A Funeral Song for Tyre
1 The Lord said to me, 2 “Mortal man, sing a funeral song for Tyre, 3 that city which stands at the edge of the sea and does business with the people living on every seacoast. Tell her what the Sovereign Lord is saying:
“Tyre, you boasted of your perfect beauty.
4 Your home is the sea.
Your builders made you like a beautiful ship;
5 They used fir trees from Mount Hermon for timber
And a cedar from Lebanon for your mast.
6 They took oak trees from Bashan to make oars;
They made your deck out of pine from Cyprus
And inlaid it with ivory.
7 Your sails were made of linen,
Embroidered linen from Egypt,
Easily recognized from afar.
Your awnings were made of finest cloth,
Of purple from the island of Cyprus.
8 Your oarsmen were from the cities of Sidon and Arvad.
Your own skillful men were the sailors.
9 The ship's carpenters
Were well-trained men from Byblos.
Sailors from every seagoing ship
Did business in your shops.
10 “Soldiers from Persia, Lydia, and Libya served in your army. They hung their shields and their helmets in your barracks. They are the men who won glory for you. 11 Soldiers from Arvad guarded your walls, and troops from Gamad guarded your towers. They hung their shields on your walls. They are the ones who made you beautiful.
12 “You did business in Spain and took silver, iron, tin, and lead in payment for your abundant goods. 13 You did business in Greece, Tubal, and Meshech and traded your goods for slaves and for articles of bronze. 14 You sold your goods for workhorses, war-horses, and mules from Beth Togarmah. 15 The people of Rhodes traded with you; people of many coastal lands gave you ivory and ebony in exchange for your goods. 16 The people of Syria bought your merchandise and your many products. They gave emeralds, purple cloth, embroidery, fine linen, coral, and rubies in payment for your wares. 17 Judah and Israel paid for your goods with wheat, honey, olive oil, and spices. 18-19 The people of Damascus bought your merchandise and your products, paying for them with wine from Helbon and wool from Sahar. They traded wrought iron and spices for your goods. 20 The people of Dedan traded saddle blankets for your goods. 21 The Arabians and the rulers of the land of Kedar paid for your merchandise with lambs, sheep, and goats. 22 For your goods the merchants of Sheba and Raamah traded jewels, gold, and the finest spices. 23 The cities of Haran, Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, the cities of Asshur and Chilmad—they all traded with you. 24 They sold you luxurious clothing, purple cloth, and embroidery, brightly colored carpets, and well-made cords and ropes. 25 Your merchandise was carried in fleets of the largest cargo ships.
“You were like a ship at sea
Loaded with heavy cargo.
26 When your oarsmen brought you out to sea,
An east wind wrecked you far from land.
27 All your wealth of merchandise,
All the sailors in your crew,
Your ship's carpenters and your merchants,
Every soldier on board the ship—
All, all were lost at sea
When your ship was wrecked.
28 The shouts of the drowning sailors
Echoed on the shore.
29 “Every ship is now deserted,
And every sailor has gone ashore.
30 They all mourn bitterly for you,
Throwing dust on their heads and rolling in ashes.
31 They shave their heads for you
And dress themselves in sackcloth.
Their hearts are bitter as they weep.
32 They chant a funeral song for you:
‘Who can be compared to Tyre,
To Tyre now silent in the sea?
33 When your merchandise went overseas,
You filled the needs of every nation.
Kings were made rich
By the wealth of your goods.
34 Now you are wrecked in the sea;
You have sunk to the ocean depths.
Your goods and all who worked for you
Have vanished with you in the sea.’
35 “Everyone who lives along the coast is shocked at your fate. Even their kings are terrified, and fear is written on their faces. 36 You are gone, gone forever, and merchants all over the world are terrified, afraid that they will share your fate.”
1 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, 2 Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus; 3 And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty. 4 Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty. 5 They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir: they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee. 6 Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; the company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim. 7 Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee. 8 The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners: thy wise men , O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots. 9 The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise. 10 They of Persia and of Lud and of Phut were in thine army, thy men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in thee; they set forth thy comeliness. 11 The men of Arvad with thine army were upon thy walls round about, and the Gammadims were in thy towers: they hanged their shields upon thy walls round about; they have made thy beauty perfect. 12 Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs. 13 Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants: they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market. 14 They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses and horsemen and mules. 15 The men of Dedan were thy merchants; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand: they brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony. 16 Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the wares of thy making: they occupied in thy fairs with emeralds, purple, and broidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate. 17 Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants: they traded in thy market wheat of Minnith, and Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm. 18 Damascus was thy merchant in the multitude of the wares of thy making, for the multitude of all riches; in the wine of Helbon, and white wool. 19 Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy market. 20 Dedan was thy merchant in precious clothes for chariots. 21 Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with thee in lambs, and rams, and goats: in these were they thy merchants. 22 The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants: they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold. 23 Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad, were thy merchants. 24 These were thy merchants in all sorts of things , in blue clothes, and broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar, among thy merchandise. 25 The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market: and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the midst of the seas.
26 ¶ Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas. 27 Thy riches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, and all thy men of war, that are in thee, and in all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin. 28 The suburbs shall shake at the sound of the cry of thy pilots. 29 And all that handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea, shall come down from their ships, they shall stand upon the land; 30 And shall cause their voice to be heard against thee, and shall cry bitterly, and shall cast up dust upon their heads, they shall wallow themselves in the ashes: 31 And they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee, and gird them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing. 32 And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and lament over thee, saying , What city is like Tyrus, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea? 33 When thy wares went forth out of the seas, thou filledst many people; thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of thy riches and of thy merchandise. 34 In the time when thou shalt be broken by the seas in the depths of the waters thy merchandise and all thy company in the midst of thee shall fall. 35 All the inhabitants of the isles shall be astonished at thee, and their kings shall be sore afraid, they shall be troubled in their countenance. 36 The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee; thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt be any more.