“Now you, son of man, take up a lament for Tyre.
Parallel translations
- WEB You, son of man, take up a lamentation over Tyre;
- KJV Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus;
- NKJV “Now, son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyre,
- NASB “And you, son of man, take up a song of mourning over Tyre;
- NLT “Son of man, sing a funeral song for Tyre,
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 commands Ezekiel to take up a lamentation over Tyre. It frames the coming prophecy as a funeral dirge for the doomed city.
Overview
A 'lamentation' is a mournful song normally sung over the dead, here applied prophetically to Tyre as if already fallen. The form conveys both the certainty of judgment and a note of sober gravity rather than gleeful triumph. By mourning Tyre's fate in advance, the oracle invites reflection on the tragic end of misplaced glory.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ezek 19:1“As for you, take up a lament for the princes of Israel
- Ezek 28:12“Son of man, take up a lament for the king of Tyre and tell him that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
- Jer 9:17–20This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Take note, and summon the wailing women; send for the most skillful among them.
- Jer 9:10I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, a dirge over the wilderness pasture, for they have been scorched so no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not heard. Both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled; they have gone away.
- Ezek 26:17Then they will lament for you, saying, “How you have perished, O city of renown inhabited by seafaring men—she who was powerful on the sea, along with her people, who imposed terror on all peoples!
- Ezek 27:32As they wail and mourn over you, they will take up a lament for you: ‘Who was ever like Tyre, silenced in the middle of the sea?
- Jer 7:20Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and the produce of the land, and it will burn and not be extinguished.
- Amos 5:16Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says: “There will be wailing in all the public squares and cries of ‘Alas! Alas!’ in all the streets. The farmer will be summoned to mourn, and the mourners to wail.
- Amos 5:1Hear this word, O house of Israel, this lamentation I take up against you:
- Ezek 32:2“Son of man, take up a lament for Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him: ‘You are like a lion among the nations; you are like a monster in the seas. You thrash about in your rivers, churning up the waters with your feet and muddying the streams.’
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 27:2 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.