I will make you a bare rock, and you will become a place to spread the fishing nets. You will never be rebuilt, for I, the LORD, have spoken, declares the Lord GOD.’
Parallel translations
- WEB I will make you a bare rock; you shall be a place for the spreading of nets; you shall be built no more: for I Yahweh have spoken it, says the Lord Yahweh.
- KJV And I will make thee like the top of a rock: thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more: for I the LORD have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
- NKJV I will make you like the top of a rock; you shall be a place for spreading nets, and you shall never be rebuilt, for I the Lord have spoken,’ says the Lord God.
- NASB I will turn you into a bare rock; you will become a dry place for the spreading of nets. You will not be rebuilt, for I the Lord have spoken,” declares the Lord God.
- NLT I will make your island a bare rock, a place for fishermen to spread their nets. You will never be rebuilt, for I, the Lord, have spoken. Yes, the Sovereign Lord has spoken!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God reaffirms that Tyre will be a bare rock for spreading nets, never rebuilt, because He has spoken. It stresses the certainty and finality of His word.
Overview
The repetition of the bare-rock and fishing-net imagery frames the oracle with emphatic finality. 'You shall be built no more' applies most directly to the ancient island fortress, whose former glory was never restored even as the site saw later settlement. The phrase 'I Yahweh have spoken it' anchors the prophecy's certainty in God's unchanging character, a sure foundation for all His promises.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Job 12:14What He tears down cannot be rebuilt; the man He imprisons cannot be released.
- Mal 1:4Though Edom may say, “We have been devastated, but we will rebuild the ruins,” this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Land of Wickedness, and a people with whom the LORD is indignant forever.
- Num 23:19God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?
- Ezek 26:4–5They will destroy the walls of Tyre and demolish her towers. I will scrape the soil from her and make her a bare rock.
- Deut 13:16And you are to gather all its plunder in the middle of the public square, and completely burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. The city must remain a mound of ruins forever, never to be rebuilt.
- Isa 14:27The LORD of Hosts has purposed, and who can thwart Him? His hand is outstretched, so who can turn it back?
- Ezek 22:14Will your courage endure or your hands be strong in the day I deal with you? I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will act.
- Ezek 30:12I will make the streams dry up and sell the land to the wicked. By the hands of foreigners I will bring desolation upon the land and everything in it. I, the LORD, have spoken.
- Ezek 26:12They will plunder your wealth and pillage your merchandise. They will demolish your walls, tear down your beautiful homes, and throw your stones and timber and soil into the water.
- Matt 24:35Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.
- Ezek 5:13And when My anger is spent and I have vented My wrath against them, I will be appeased. And when I have spent My wrath on them, they will know that I, the LORD, in My zeal have spoken.
- Ezek 5:15So you will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and a horror to the nations around you, when I execute judgments against you in anger, wrath, and raging fury. I, the LORD, have spoken.
- Ezek 17:21–24All his choice troops will fall by the sword, and those who survive will be scattered to every wind. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken.’
- Ezek 21:32You will be fuel for the fire. Your blood will stain your own land. You will not be remembered, for I, the LORD, have spoken.’”
- Job 40:8Would you really annul My justice? Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?
- Ezek 5:17I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring a sword against you. I, the LORD, have spoken.”
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Christ at the center
The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.
How Ezekiel 26:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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