Ezekiel 27
Easy Reader Bible: Purple Letter EditionKJP 
1This word of the LORD came to me, 2Now, son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyre, 3And say to Tyre, ‘O you that are situated at the entrance to the sea, and are a merchant of the people for many coastlands, Thus says the LORD God: “O Tyre, you have said, ‘I am of perfect beauty’. 4Your domain was centered in the seas; your builders have brought your beauty to perfection. 5They have made all your planks of fir trees of Senir; they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make your masts. 6They have made your oars of the oaks of Bashan; they made your decks of cypress wood from the coasts of Cyprus, adorned with ivory. 7Fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt was used to spread your sail; blue and purple from the coasts of Elishah was what covered you. 8The men of Sidon and Arvad were your skilled mariners; O Tyre, they were your helmsmen and pilots. 9The seasoned and skilled men of Gebal were your shipwrights; all manner of ships of the sea, with their mariners, came alongside your ships to exchange merchandise.

10Men of Persia, Lydia and Put were your soldiers - your men of war; they hung the shield and helmet on your walls; they were part of your splendor. 11The men of Arvad, with your army, guarded your walls on all sides, and the men of Gammad manned your towers; they hung their shields upon all your walls; completing your splendor. 12Tarshish did business with you because of your many kinds of riches; they traded in silver, iron, tin, and lead in your fairs. 13Javan (Greece), Tubal, and Meshech, brought slaves and articles of bronze to your market. 14The people of Togarmah traded cavalry horses and mules in your fairs. 15The men of Dedan (Rhodes) traded with you; many coastlands were your customers; they paid you in horns of ivory and ebony. 16Syria (Aram) was your merchant because of your many wares and products, they traded in your fairs with emeralds, purple, and embroidered work, fine linen, coral, and agate. 17Judah, and the land of Israel, also traded wheat of Minnith, pannag (a sweet pastry), honey, oil, and balm in your market. 18Damascus did business with you because of your many products and great wealth of goods. They offered wine from Uzal (Helbon), wool from Zahar 19Vedan (Dan also) and Javan, going to and fro, traded in your fairs; bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were in your market. 20Dedan sent merchants to trade their expensive saddle blankets with you. 21Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar traded with you in lambs, rams, and goats. 22The merchants of Sheba and Raamah were your trading partners; trading the best of all spices, precious stones, and gold. 23Haran, Canneh (Kanneh), and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad, were your trading partners. 24These were those who traded in all sorts of merchandise - in blue clothes, embroidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar, among other products. 25The ships of Tarshish served as sea-going caravans of cargo for your market; thus you were supplied, and made very glorious as the center of the seas.

26Your oarsmen have taken you into great waters; but the east wind can break you out on the high seas. 27Your riches, and your fairs, your merchandise, your mariners, your pilots, your shipwrights, the traders of your merchandise, all your men of war, and everyone onboard, will sink at sea in the day of your ruin. 28The shorelands shall quake when your seafarers cry out in panic. 29And all that handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea, shall leave their ships; they shall stand upon dry land, 30And shall raise their voices against you, and cry bitterly, and shall cast up dust upon their heads, they shall wallow themselves in the ashes. 31And they shall shave their heads utterly bald because of you, and put on sackcloth; and they shall weep bitterly and wail. 32And in their wailing they shall lament over you, and say, ‘Was there ever a city like Tyre, destroyed in the midst of the sea?’ 33When your merchandise went out upon the seas, you supplied many people; and enriched the kings of the earth with the vastness of your riches and of your merchandise. 34In this time when you shall be shattered by the sea in the depths of the waters, your merchandise and all your crews shall sink into the sea. 35All who live on the coastlands shall be appalled at you, and their kings shall be very much afraid; their faces shall show how troubled they are. 36The merchants among the nations shall scoff at you; you shall come to a horrible end, and shall never be again.”’”

The ancient city of Tyre was built on an island just off the coast of what is modern-day Lebanon; and that island had two excellent harbors. There was also a city of the same name built on the mainland by the sea. After Alexander laid siege to and captured the twin cities, in 332BC, he used the rubble from the destroyed smaller mainline city to build a land bridge across to the island city, which is now a man-made peninsula.

Easy Reader Bible: Purple Letter Edition
© 2023 by Jim Musser. Used by Permission. All rights Reserved.

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