Ezekiel 26:15 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ezekiel 26:15
Thus saith the Lord GOD to Tyrus; Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded cry, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee?
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Lord
אֲדֹנָ֥י'a.do.Nai
H136
the Lord (used as a proper name of God only) · proper noun, a title
GOD
יְהוִ֖הYah.weh
H3069
YHWH · proper noun, a title
Tyrus
לְצ֑וֹרle.Tzor
H6865
Tsor · preposition + proper noun, a place name
isles
הָאִיִּֽיםha.'i.Yim
H339
properly · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
shake
יִרְעֲשׁ֖וּyir.'a.Shu
H7493
to undulate (as the earth · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
sound
מִקּ֣וֹלmi.Kol
H6963
a voice or sound · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
fall
מַפַּלְתֵּ֗ךְma.pal.Tekh
H4658
fall · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
wounded
חָלָ֜לcha.Lal
H2491
pierced (especially to death) · adjective, masculine singular absolute
cry
בֶּאֱנֹ֨קbe.'e.Nok
H602
to shriek · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
slaughter
הֶ֙רֶג֙he.reg
H2027
slaughter · noun, common masculine singular absolute
made
בֵּהָ֤רֵֽגbe.Ha.reg
H2026
to smite with deadly intent · preposition + verb, niphal infinitive construct
midst
בְּתוֹכֵ֔ךְbe.to.Khekh
H8432
a bisection · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ezekiel 27:35 All the inhabitants of the isles shall be astonished at thee, and their kings shall be sore afraid, they shall be troubled in their countena…
Jeremiah 49:21 The earth is moved at the noise of their fall, at the cry the noise thereof was heard in the Red sea.
Ezekiel 26:18 Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure.
Ezekiel 31:16 I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of…
Isaiah 2:19 And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when…
Ezekiel 27:28 The suburbs shall shake at the sound of the cry of thy pilots.
Ezekiel 32:10 Yea, I will make many people amazed at thee, and their kings shall be horribly afraid for thee, when I shall brandish my sword before them;…
Hebrews 12:26-27 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 26:15–end
The utter ruin of Tyre is here represented in very strong and lively figures, which are exceedingly affecting.
1. See how high, how great, Tyre had been, how little likely ever to come to this. The remembrance of men's former grandeur and plenty is a great aggravation of their present disgrace and poverty. Tyre was a renowned city (Eze 26:17), famous among the nations, the crowning city (so she is called Isa 23:8), a city that had crowns in her gift, honoured all she smiled upon, crowned herself and all about her. She was inhabited of seas, that is, of those that trade at sea, of those who from all parts came thither by sea, bringing with them the abundance of the seas and the treasures hidd…
The impression which the overthrow of Tyre produced on other maritime nations and upon her own colonies, for example, Utica, Carthage, and Tartessus or Tarshish in Spain.
isles--maritime lands. Even mighty Carthage used to send a yearly offering to the temple of Hercules at Tyre: and the mother city gave high priests to her colonies. Hence the consternation at her fall felt in the widely scattered dependencies with which she was so closely connected by the ties of religion, as well as commercial intercourse.
shake--metaphorically: "be agitated" (Jer 49:21).
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 26:15
The isles shake at the sound of thy fall - All those which had traded with this city, which was the grand mart, and on which they all depended. Her ruin involved them all, and caused general wailing.
John Gill on Ezekiel 26:15
Thus saith the Lord God to Tyrus,.... By his prophet, who very probably delivered this prophecy to the ambassadors of Tyre at Babylon; or to some of their merchants that traded there; or sent it in a letter to them:
shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall; when they hear the noise of Tyre being taken, it will make them tremble, as fearing their turn will be next; that if a city so well fortified by nature and art, so well supplied with men and money, that had held out the siege so long, should at last surrender; what should they, the neighbouring isles, do, if attacked, who were so inferior to it? and besides, they might have much of their goods in it, in which they traded with t…
The Church Fathers
(Verse 15 and following) Thus says the Lord God to Tyre: Shall not the rumble of your downfall, and the groaning of your slain, when they are killed in your midst, shake the islands? And all the princes of the sea will come down from their thrones, and they will take off their robes and cast aside their embroidered garments; they will put on sackcloth and sit on the ground, and they will tremble with horror at you. They will raise a lament over you and say to you: How you have perished, you renowned city, you were mighty in the sea with your inhabitants, who were feared by all. Now the ships will be astonished on the day of your terror, and the islands in the sea will be troubled, because no one will go out from you. LXX: For thus says the Lord God, Sister. Will not your wounded ones groan at the sound of your downfall, when the sword is drawn in your midst? The islands will shake, and all the princes of the sea will come down from their thrones, and they will take off their crowns, and they will be stripped of their various garments. They will go insane with fury: they will sit on the ground, and they will fear their own destruction, and they will groan over you, and they will take up a lamentation for you, and they will say to you: How you have perished and been scattered in the sea, praised city, which was strong in the sea itself, and its inhabitants, who each gave their fear to all its inhabitants? And the islands will fear on the day of your downfall, and the islands will be troubled in the sea at your departure. First, let us unfold the words of the story itself, briefly opening the meaning of the statements. Thus says the Lord God to Tyre, which is called Sor in Hebrew: Will the islands not be moved on the day of your downfall, when Nebuchadnezzar attacks and you fall, and amid the groaning of the wounded or killed in your midst? And all the kings will descend from their seats or thrones, and the princes of the sea who govern various islands will take off their crowns from their heads, laying aside all the glory of ruling and their most precious garments shining with incredible variety, they will cast them away, and in the greatness of their astonishment they will turn into madness, and being humiliated, they will sit on the ground, and when they see you have fallen, they will fear the same fate for themselves; and they will consider nothing to be…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Island — (Heb. ‘i, “dry land,” as opposed to water) occurs in its usual signification (Isa. 42:4, 10, 12, 15, comp. Jer. 47:4), but more frequently simply denotes a maritime region or sea-coast (Isa. 20:6,…
Nebuchadnezzar, Or Nebuchadrezzar — (may Nebo protect the crown), was the greatest and most powerful of the Babylonian kings. His name is explained to mean “Nebo is the protector against misfortune.” He was the son and successor of…
Prophecy — Or prediction, was one of the functions of the prophet. It has been defined as a “miracle of knowledge, a declaration or description or representation of something future, beyond the power of human…
Tyre — A rock, now es-Sur; an ancient Phoenician city, about 23 miles, in a direct line, north of Acre, and 20 south of Sidon. Sidon was the oldest Phoenician city, but Tyre had a longer and more…
Tyrus — This form is employed in the Authorized Version of the books of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea (Joel has “Tyre”), Amos and Zechariah, as follows: (Jeremiah 25:22; 27:3; 47:4; Ezekiel 26:2,3,4,7,15;…
Tyre · Prophecies respecting: All nations to be terrified at its destruction — Prophecies respecting: All nations to be terrified at its destruction
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The tidings of the destruction of Tyre will produce great commotion in all her colonies and the islands connected with her. - Eze 26:15. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah to Tyre, Will not the islands tremble at the noise of thy fall, at the groaning of the wounded, at the slaughter in the midst of thee? Eze 26:16. And all the princes of the sea will come down from their thrones, and will lay aside their robes and take off their embroidered clothes, and dress themselves in terrors, sit upon the earth, and they will tremble every moment, and be astonished at thee. Eze 26:17. They will raise a lamentation for thee, and say to thee: How hast thou perished, thou who wast inhabited from out of the sea,…
