Ezekiel 28:1-19

God warns the king of Tyre

1 The Lord gave this message to me: 2 ‘Son of man, say this to the ruler of Tyre. “This is what the Almighty Lord says:

You are a very proud man.

You say, ‘I am a god and Tyre is my throne.

I rule over all the seas around me.’

But, whatever you think, you are only a man.

You are not a god.

3 You think that you are wiser than Daniel,

and that you know all secrets.

4 You have been wise and clever enough to make yourself rich.

You have stored much gold and silver in your palace.

5 Because you are a clever trader,

you have become even richer.

And because of your riches,

you have become very proud.

6 So this is what the Almighty Lord says:

You think that you are as wise as a god.

7 So listen! I will bring a foreign army to attack you.

They will be a very cruel enemy.

They will use their swords to destroy your beautiful city.

They will spoil the beautiful things that you have used your wisdom to get for yourselves.

8 They will kill you violently in battle,

and the sea will become your grave.

9 When your enemies attack you,

you will no longer say, ‘I am a god.’

When they are ready to kill you,

you will know that you are only human.

10 Foreign people will kill you.

You will die like people who do not belong to me.

I, the Almighty Lord have said this.” ’

A funeral song about the king of Tyre

11 The Lord gave this message to me: 12 ‘Son of man, sing this funeral song about the king of Tyre. Tell him, “This is what the Almighty Lord says:

At one time, you were the example of a good man.

You were completely wise and beautiful.

13 You lived in God's beautiful garden, Eden.

You wore valuable jewels on your clothes.

The jewels were ruby, topaz, emerald,

chrysolite, onyx, jasper,

sapphire, turquoise and beryl.

They were fixed to pieces of gold.

They were ready for you to wear on the day that you were born.

14 I put you there with a cherub to be your guard.

You lived on my holy mountain.

You walked among the stones that burned with fire.

15 Everything that you did was completely good

from the day that you were born.

But later, you started to do wicked things.

16 As a trader, you bought and sold many things.

As a result, you became violent

and you did evil things.

So I sent you away in shame.

I would not allow you to remain on my mountain.

The cherub that had been your guard chased you out.

You could no longer walk among the stones that burned with fire.

17 But because you were so beautiful,

you were very proud.

You used your wisdom to do bad things,

because you loved to have beautiful things.

So I threw you down to the ground.

I let other kings see what had happened to you.

18 As a trader, you did many wrong things to cheat people.

Your holy places became unclean.

So I caused fire to completely destroy your city.

Everyone could see that only ashes remained on the ground.

19 All the people of other nations who knew you are very afraid.

They have seen the terrible thing that has happened to you.

You have come to a complete end and you will never return.” ’