Wednesday 17th January 2024

Proclamation against the King of Tyre

28The word of the Lord came to me: ²Mortal, say to the prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord God:
Because your heart is proud
   and you have said, ‘I am a god;
I sit in the seat of the gods,
   in the heart of the seas’,
yet you are but a mortal, and no god,
   though you compare your mind
   with the mind of a god.
³ You are indeed wiser than Daniel;^*
   no secret is hidden from you;
⁴ by your wisdom and your understanding
   you have amassed wealth for yourself,
and have gathered gold and silver
   into your treasuries.
⁵ By your great wisdom in trade
   you have increased your wealth,
   and your heart has become proud in your wealth.
⁶ Therefore, thus says the Lord God:
Because you compare your mind
   with the mind of a god,
⁷ therefore, I will bring strangers against you,
   the most terrible of the nations;
they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom
   and defile your splendour.
⁸ They shall thrust you down to the Pit,
   and you shall die a violent death
   in the heart of the seas.
⁹ Will you still say, ‘I am a god’,
   in the presence of those who kill you,
though you are but a mortal, and no god,
   in the hands of those who wound you?
¹⁰ You shall die the death of the uncircumcised
   by the hand of foreigners;
   for I have spoken, says the Lord God.

Lamentation over the King of Tyre

11 Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me: ¹²Mortal, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord God:
You were the signet of perfection,^*
   full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
¹³ You were in Eden, the garden of God;
   every precious stone was your covering,
carnelian, chrysolite, and moonstone,
   beryl, onyx, and jasper,
sapphire,^* turquoise, and emerald;
   and worked in gold were your settings
   and your engravings.^*
On the day that you were created
   they were prepared.
¹⁴ With an anointed cherub as guardian I placed you;^*
   you were on the holy mountain of God;
   you walked among the stones of fire.
¹⁵ You were blameless in your ways
   from the day that you were created,
   until iniquity was found in you.
¹⁶ In the abundance of your trade
   you were filled with violence, and you sinned;
so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God,
   and the guardian cherub drove you out
   from among the stones of fire.
¹⁷ Your heart was proud because of your beauty;
   you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendour.
I cast you to the ground;
   I exposed you before kings,
   to feast their eyes on you.
¹⁸ By the multitude of your iniquities,
   in the unrighteousness of your trade,
   you profaned your sanctuaries.
So I brought out fire from within you;
   it consumed you,
and I turned you to ashes on the earth
   in the sight of all who saw you.
¹⁹ All who know you among the peoples
   are appalled at you;
you have come to a dreadful end
   and shall be no more for ever.

NRSV