Ezekiel 26:19

(19) Bring up the deep upon thee.—With Eze_26:19 begins the closing section of this prophecy, and in it the other parts are summed up and emphasised. The figurative language by which the overwhelming of Tyre is here described is again appropriate to her natural situation.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eze 26:19 For thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee;

Ver. 19. When I shall bring up the deep upon thee.] As Eze 26:3; great forces.

And great waters shall cover thee.] So that thou shalt be irrecoverably lost, as places drowned, and never seen any more; Goodwin sands here in Kent, for instance. These did once belong to Goodwin, Earl of Kent, as his lands; but in the reign of William Rufus they were flooded, and remain to this day a dangerous sandy place, where perished, this present year 1658, Col. Reynolds and others, in their return from Mardike.

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.

Eze 26:19-21. Thus saith the Lord, When I shall make thee a desolate city — When I shall fulfil these predictions, and make thee what I now threaten to make thee; like the cities that are not inhabited — Whose walls are broken down, and whose streets are all solitary. When I shall bring up the deep upon thee — This may be understood either figuratively of Nebuchadnezzar’s army, or literally of the sea overflowing and covering a great part of the ancient seat of the city, in consequence of the walls and outworks thereof being demolished. And great waters shall cover thee — Either, literally, the waters of the sea, or, metaphorically, great afflictions. When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit — When thou shalt be brought to utter desolation, like the cities which have been long buried in ruin and oblivion. The phrase of going down into the pit, (by which term is often signified the grave,) is frequently made use of in Scripture, to express the destruction of a person or place. Thus our Saviour says of Capernaum, (Luk 10:15,) Thou shall be thrust down to hell, or, rather, as it ought to be translated, into the state of the dead, that is, thou shall become desolate, or be no longer a city. With the people of old time — With those who are now in entire oblivion, as those who lived in the first ages of the world now are. And shall set thee in the low parts of the earth — Another description of the grave, from the situation and solitude of it; in places desolate of old — Desolate from the beginning. And I shall set glory in the land of the living — That is, when I shall reinstate Judea in glory again. Judea is called the land of the living, (which signifies, according to the genius of the Hebrew language, the land of happy men,) because that the inhabitants were assured of all blessings so long as they served God faithfully. The prophet here foretels that the city of Jerusalem, at whose destruction the inhabitants of Tyre had so greatly exulted, should be again rebuilt in the same place, and even attain to a height of reputation and glory, while the city of Tyre should remain a desolation. I will make thee a terror, and thou shall be no more — Thou shall be left in the ruins of desolation, a terrible example of my vengeance. Though thou be sought for, yet shall thou never be found again — A mode of expression this, which denotes an entire destruction: see notes on Eze 26:4-5; Eze 26:14.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thus will Tyre, covered by the waves of the sea, sink into the region of the dead, and vanish for ever from the earth. - Eze 26:19. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, When I make thee a desolate city, like the cities which are no longer inhabited, when I cause the deep to rise over thee, so that the many waters cover thee, Eze 26:20. I cast thee down to those who have gone into the grave, to the people of olden time, and cause thee to dwell in the land of the lower regions, in the ruins from the olden time, with those who have gone into the grave, that thou mayest be no longer inhabited, and I create that which is glorious in the land of the living. Eze 26:21. I make thee a terror, and thou art no more; they will seek thee, and find thee no more for ever, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. - Not only will ruin and desolation come upon Tyre, but it will sink for ever into the region of the dead. In this concluding thought the whole threat is summed up. The infinitive clauses of Eze 26:19 recapitulate the leading thoughts of the previous strophes, for the purpose of appending the closing thought of banishment to the under-world. By the rising of the deep we are to understand, according to Eze 26:12, that the city in its ruins will be sunk into the depths of the sea. יורדי , those who go down into the pit or grave, are the dead. They are described still further as עם עולם, not "those who are sleeping the long sleep of death," or the generation of old whom all must join; but the people of the "old world" before the flood (Pe2 2:5), who were buried by the waters of the flood, in accordance with Job 22:15, where עולם denotes the generations of the primeval world, and after the analogy of the use of עם עולם in Isa 44:7, to describe the human race as existing from time immemorial.

In harmony with this, חרבות are the ruins of the primeval world which perished in the flood. As עם עולם adds emphasis to the idea of יורדי בור, so also does בּחרבות מעולם to that of ארץ תּחתּיּות. Tyre shall not only descend to the dead in Sheol, but be thrust down to the people of the dead, who were sunk into the depths of the earth by the waters of the flood, and shall there receive its everlasting dwelling-place among the ruins of the primeval world which was destroyed by the flood, beside that godless race of the olden time. ארץ תּחתּיּות, land of the lowest places (cf. Eze 32:18, Eze 32:24), is a periphrasis for Sheol, the region of the dead (compare Eph 4:9, "the lower parts of the earth"). On 'ונתתּי צבי וגו Hitzig has observed with perfect correctness: "If we retain the pointing as the first person, with which the place assigned to the Athnach (-) coincides, we must at any rate not regard the clause as still dependent upon למען, and the force of the לא as continued. We should then have to take the clause as independent and affirmative, as the accentuators and the Targum have done." But as this would give rise to a discrepancy between the two halves of the verse, Hitzig proposes to alter נתתּי retla ot seso into the second person ונתּתי, so that the clause would still be governed by למען לא. But the want of agreement between the two halves of the verse does not warrant an alteration of the text, especially if it lead to nothing better than the forced rendering adopted by Hitzig, "and thou no longer shinest with glory in the land of the living," which there is nothing in the language to justify. And even the explanation proposed by Hvernick and Kliefoth, "that I no longer produce anything glorious from thee (Tyre) in the land of the living," is open to this objection, that "from thee" is arbitrarily interpolated into the text; and if this were what Ezekiel meant, he would either have added לך or written נתתּיך. Moreover, the change of the person is a sufficient objection to our taking נתתּי as dependent upon למען, and supplying לא. ונתתּי is evidently a simple continuation of והושׁבתּיך. And nothing but the weightiest objections should lead us to give up a view which so naturally suggests itself. But no such objections exist. Neither the want of harmony between the two halves of the verse, nor the context, - according to which Tyre and its destruction are referred to both before and immediately after, - forces us to the adoption of explanations at variance with the simple meaning of the words. We therefore adhere to the natural interpretation of the words, "and I set (establish) glory in the land of the living;" and understand by the land of the living, not the theocracy especially, but the earth, in contrast to the region of the dead. The words contain the general thought, that on and after the overthrow of the glory of the ungodly power of the world, He will create that which is glorious on the earth to endure for ever; and this He really does by the establishing of His kingdom. - Tyre, on the contrary, shall become, through its fate, an object of terror, or an example of sudden destruction, and pass away with all its glory, not leaving a trace behind. For Eze 26:21, compare Isa 41:12 and Psa 37:36. וּתבקשׁי, imperf. Pual, has Chateph-patach between the two u, to indicate emphatically that the syllable is only a very loosely closed one (vid., Ewald, 31b, p. 95).

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

26:19-21 God would demonstrate his sovereign power by utterly destroying Tyre. It would be as though that great city had sunk into the depths of the chaotic ocean waves, with its inhabitants condemned to the pit where the unrighteous dead reside, never to return.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

great waters--appropriate metaphor of the Babylonian hosts, which literally, by breaking down insular Tyre's ramparts, caused the sea to "cover" part of her.

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

19. Tyre shall be overwhelmed in the great waters, and brought down to the pit, with them dead from of old; she shall never, be inhabited nor found any more.

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.

When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit,.... The grave, and make thee like to them:

with the people of old time; either the people of the old world, or, however, who have been dead long ago:

and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth; where the dead are laid:

in places desolate of old: long ago unfrequented by men; as such places be as are for the burial of the dead:

with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; all the inhabitants being free among the dead; a heap of words made use of to express the same thing, for the confirmation of it; namely, that the condition of Tyre should be like that of dead men, who have been of old dead, and are remembered no more. Jarchi interprets the "pit", of hell; as if this respected their everlasting perdition, as well as temporal ruin; it may be applied to the beast which goeth into perdition, Rev 17:8,

and I shall set glory in the land of the living; in the land of Israel; so the Targum; and it is interpreted by the Jewish expositors and others the same way; and which may be called "the land of the living"; because the living God was worshipped in it; living men in a spiritual sense dwelt there, who offered up living sacrifices unto God, and who had the promise and pledge of eternal life; and which was the "glory" of all lands, as it is sometimes called, where the same word is used as here, Eze 20:6, which had its accomplishment in some respects at the Jews' return from Babylon; but, as Tyre here is a type of antichrist, it may be observed, that, at the time of his fall and destruction, God will put a glory upon his church and people, upon which there shall be a defence; see Isa 4:5. This is interpreted by the Talmudists (p) of the resurrection of the dead, when they that die in the land of Israel shall live.

(p) Vid. Kimchi in loc. & T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 111. 1.

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

Waters; great armies, (ver. 3.) or when thou art in the regions below, Job xxvi. 5. (Calmet) --- Tyre was humbled for her pride, but restored after seventy years, Isaias xxiii. Our Saviour retired into those parts, Matthew xv. 21. (Worthington)

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).

Shall make thee a desolate city; have made thee what now I threaten I will make thee.

Like the cities that are not inhabited; in the same state with cities that have not any to dwell in them, whose walls are broken down. and into whose streets all solitary wild beasts may come at pleasure.

The deep; figuratively, Nebuchadnezzar’s army; literally, when thy walls and ramparts are so broken down by the Chaldeans, that the Sea, at high tides, and in stormy swelling seas, overflows part of thine ancient seat.

Great waters; either literally, as the deep coming up; or metaphorically, great afflictions shall flow over thee.

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

19. When I shall bring up the deep upon thee — The ruins of the best parts of ancient Tyre are now under water.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

When I shall bring up the sea. The picture of desolation is completed. The sea washes over the bare rock that was once covered with the palaces of the merchant-princes.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The deep - Nebuchadnezzar's army. Great waters - Great afflictions.

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

Connecting Statement:

Yahweh continues giving Ezekiel his message to Tyre.

When I make you

The word "you" here refers to the city of Tyre. In the original language "you" here is feminine singular.

When I make you a desolate city, like the other cities that are not inhabited

Here Tyre is compared to other cities that no longer had people living in them. (See: Simile)

the deeps

Here "the deeps" means the deep waters of the sea. AT: "the deep waters" (See: Nominal Adjectives)

then I will bring you down to the people of ancient times, like the others who have gone down into the pit; for I will make you live in the lowest realms of the earth as in ruins of ancient times

What Yahweh would do to Tyre is compared to people going to the grave and cities falling into ruin. (See: Personification and Simile)

the pit

This refers to the grave. Because the grave was thought to be the entrance to the world of the dead, the pit also represents that world. (See: Metonymy)

stand in the land of the living

This represents being restored to the city's former existence. (See: Metaphor)

I will place disaster on you

The abstract noun "disaster" can be translated using the adjective "terrible" or the verb "destroy." AT: "I will bring you to a terrible end" or "I will destroy you" (See: Abstract Nouns)

Then you will be sought, but you will never be found ever again

This can be stated in active form. AT: "Then people will seek you but not be able to find you ever again" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

Lord Yahweh

desolate

water

pit

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

when [I] bring up the deep upon you “When I bring upon you companies of nations as numerous as the waters of the deep, and many nations will cover you.” Jonathan translated it in this manner, but according to its apparent meaning, first it was given into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, and ultimately, the sea came up and inundated it.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.