Ezekiel 26:14

Eze 26:14 And I will make thee like the top of a rock: thou shalt be [a place] to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more: for I the LORD have spoken [it], saith the Lord GOD.

Ver. 14. Thou shalt be built no more,] i.e., Not in haste, and not at all by the same inhabitants, nor with the like neatness and celebrity. Some say it was not built in the same place with Palaetyrus, or old Tyre; yet was it a famous city again, near unto which our Saviour wrought miracles, in which Paul abode seven days with the brethren. Here Origen died, {a} Ulpian the great lawyer was born, {b} &c. Of this city read Gul. Tyrius, de Bello Sacro, lib. xiii. cap. 1.

{a} Jerome.

{b} Ulp. Digest. Tit. de Cens.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I will make thee so bare that thou shalt have nothing to cover thee.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

He concludes in nearly the same words as he began (Eze 26:4-5).

built no more--fulfilled as to the mainland Tyre, under Nebuchadnezzar. The insular Tyre recovered partly, after seventy years (Isa 23:17-18), but again suffered under Alexander, then under Antigonus, then under the Saracens at the beginning of the fourteenth century. Now its harbors are choked with sand, precluding all hope of future restoration, "not one entire house is left, and only a few fishermen take shelter in the vaults" [MAUNDRELL]. So accurately has God's word come to pass.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 14. Thou shalt be built no more] If this refer to Nebuchadnezzar's capture of the city, old Tyre must be intended: that was destroyed by him, and never rebuilt. But I doubt whether the whole of this prophecy do not refer to the taking of Tyre by Alexander, three hundred years after its capture by Nebuchadnezzar. Indeed it may include more recent conquests of this important city. It went through a variety of vicissitudes till 1289, when it and the neighbouring towns were sacked and ravaged by the Mamelukes. Mr. Maundrell, who visited this place, says, "it is a Babel of broken walls, pillars, vaults, c., there being not so much as one entire house left! Its present inhabitants are only a few poor wretches, harbouring themselves in the vaults, and subsisting chiefly on fishing who seem to be preserved in this place by Divine Providence as a visible argument how God has fulfilled his word concerning Tyre, that it should be the top of a rock, a place for fishers to dry their nets on."

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

14. the top of a rock] a naked rock, Eze_26:4.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And I will make thee like the top of a rock,.... Smooth and bare; See Gill on Eze 26:4,

and thou shall be a place to spread nets upon; See Gill on Eze 26:5,

thou shalt be built no more: this must be understood with some restriction and limitation; as that it should not be built any more in the same stately manner; or be raised to royal dignity, and be governed in the grand manner it had been; or be built upon the same spot; or after its last destruction, to which the prophecy may have respect; it being usual in Scripture for prophecies to regard what is more remote as well as more near; for, upon the destruction of it by Nebuchadnezzar, it was to be restored after seventy years, according to Isaiah's prophecy, Isa 23:15 and, many years after this, new Tyre was besieged, taken, and destroyed by Alexander; and after this it was rebuilt; we read of it in the New Testament; See Gill on Act 21:3, and in Jerom's time it was a most noble and beautiful city, as he on this passage observes; indeed, as Kimchi says, who lived near a thousand years after Jerom, the city then built in his time called Tyre was built upon the continent near the seashore; whereas Tyre destroyed by Alexander was built in the midst of the sea, and was as the top of a rock. It has since been destroyed by Saladine, in the year 1291; and now quite uninhabited, unless by fishermen, who wash, dry, and mend their nets here:

for I the Lord have spoken it, saith, the Lord God; and therefore it shall be accomplished, as it has been; no more of his returning void, and becoming of no effect. The Targum is,

"because I the Lord have decreed by my word, saith the Lord God;''

it is a determination and resolution of his, and none can disannul it. Abendana thinks that hitherto the prophecy is concerning the first destruction of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar, and what follows is concerning the destruction of it by Alexander.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

More, for seventy years, Isaias xxiii. 15. The people returned at the same time as the Jews. (The year of the world 3468.) Soon after, Zacharias (chap. ix.) speaks of Tyre as then subsisting. It was very strong in Alexander’s time, (who took it with difficulty, as Antigonus did eighteen years later) and had a very extensive commerce when St. Jerome wrote. But all this must be understood of New Tyre. The old city never regained much splendour. (Calmet) --- It is still in ruins. A modern traveller was struck with the completion of this prophecy, beholding a few miserable fishermen drying their nets on the spot!

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Eze 14:4,5.

Thou shalt be built no more; either not this long time, or else not built in greatness and glory, or not raised to be a kingdom, or not by the inhabitants of old Tyre, or not with the same laws, customs, and usages; indeed, though there was a city of that name built, yet it was built on the continent, and in propriety of speech was another city, not old Tyre.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

No more - Tho' there was a city of that name built, yet it was built on the continent; and in propriety of speech, was another city.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.