What does Ezekiel 26:14 mean by 'Tyre shall never be rebuilt'?

Question

Ezekiel 26:7-14 (ESV)
⁷  “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will bring against Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses and chariots, and with horsemen and a host of many soldiers. ⁸  He will kill with the sword your daughters on the mainland. He will set up a siege wall against you and throw up a mound against you, and raise a roof of shields against you. ⁹  He will direct the shock of his battering rams against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers. ¹⁰  His horses will be so many that their dust will cover you. Your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen and wagons and chariots, when he enters your gates as men enter a city that has been breached. ¹¹  With the hoofs of his horses he will trample all your streets. He will kill your people with the sword, and your mighty pillars will fall to the ground. ¹²  They will plunder your riches and loot your merchandise. They will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses. Your stones and timber and soil they will cast into the midst of the waters. ¹³  And I will stop the music of your songs, and the sound of your lyres shall be heard no more. ¹⁴  I will make you a bare rock. You shall be a place for the spreading of nets. You shall never be rebuilt, for I am the Lord; I have spoken, declares the Lord God.

What does verse 14 mean? Does it mean that Tyre will never be rebuilt (i.e. there will never be a city again)? The city of Tyre is still existent today. Was this the implication of the verse or is there something else to be understood from this verse?

Answer 1

The ancient city-state of Tyre was comprised of the erstwhile island proper (no longer extant) in addition to a cluster of sister cities on the mainland (Ezek 26:6). According to the prophecy of Ezekiel, the city-state would become a place for spreading of fishing nets.

Ezekiel 26:5 (NASB)
She will be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken,’ declares the Lord God, ‘and she will become spoil for the nations.

Ezekiel 26:14 (NASB)
I will make you a bare rock; you will be a place for the spreading of nets. You will be built no more, for I the Lord have spoken,” declares the Lord God.

The word for Tyre in Hebrew is צֹר, which means rock. Ezekiel indicated that Tyre would be stripped of its glory as the center of international trade and commerce, so that what would be left would be a "bare rock" -- that is, a bare "Tyre" where fishing nets would be spread. In other words, the prophecy was not that the city-state would be uninhabited, but that its glory and fame would never be rebuilt. What the reader must infer is that when fishing nets are spread out, someone necessarily (in this case fishermen) are spreading the fishing nets, since inanimate fishing nets cannot and do not spread themselves out by themselves. So there is no prophecy that the city-state would never be inhabited again, but that the city-state would never be rebuilt (to its former days of glory). Ezekiel prophesied that the Lord would debase the once glorious city-state, whose glory and arrogance were then compared to an erstwhile anointed but arrogant cherub in heaven (Ezek 28:11-19). It is this glory and fame that would never be rebuilt. The glorious rock of Tyre has become a "bare rock" of fisheries, which is the state of the current area and municipality of "Tyre" today. Please click here.

Answer 2

While it is true that Tyre never achieved its former glory, I do not see this as the main thrust of fulfillment. The city of Tyre has never been rebuilt. There are not even any Phoenician ruins visible where the city bearing the same name now stands. It is filled with Roman ruins, crusader, ottoman, and macedonian leftovers. Much like NYC of very recent history, Tyre was the center of trade for the known world. The trafficking of goods, and people, have for much of recorded history, been a means of capitalizing on common needs, while maintaining control over societies, which was the main concern of the anointed cherub. His seat was tyre, The fulfillment of GODs prophecy through Ezekiel, occurred with frightening accuracy. It is a sad testimony to what GOD has always offered to man, and man, just like Esau, traded his birthright for a mess of devilish pottage. Not only was the city,( both the mainland, and island portion) destroyed by armies of Persia, Macedonia, etc. It has also been destroyed by earthquake and tsunami. There is no city of Tyre as was . The mainland location due to Alexanders conquest of the Island is not fully agreed upon by historians, but the fact that it took Neb. 13 yrs. to conquer, and provided enough materials for both the first and second of Alexanders moles, should indicate to the world that the mainland portion of tyre must have been extensive. It is now underwater, in the form of an over silted causway. It has never been rebuilt, it is no more. As for the Island portion, a good portion of the island sank in 551AD in an apparently large earthquake, and as said earlier, there isn't anything left to indicate that it was ever a Phoenician city. There is a city bearing the same name, it is there as a stumbling block (my opinion of course) for the skeptic.

Answer 3

The ancient city of Tyre, was never rebuilt. Ancient Tyre that Nebuchadnezzar attacked and destroyed laid somewhat south of the island of Tyre. Many however escaped to this island (with most of their cities wealth). Various nations attacked new Tyre, the island without much success. Until Alexander the great conquered the island Tyre by building a causeway for his infantry, and with help from other nations naval forces. The causeway was made using the ancient ruins of former Tyre, which as I said has never been rebuilt... It is now a protected reserve, there are relatively no buildings except for the refugee camp today.

Answer 4

God told Jonah to preach to the inhabitants of Nineveh that it would be destroyed in 40 days. They repented, and God spared Nineveh. As the king of Nineveh said, "Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?" "And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not"(Jonah 3:9-10). However, Jonah was upset that God did not follow through (Jonah 4:1). That's why he fled to Tarshish, he said. He knew that God would relent and spare the city, "for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil" (Jonah 4:2). He really had not wanted to go to Nineveh, and he was resentful that he went all that way and the city was spared, anyway. But God answered him, "And should I not spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?" (Jonah 4:10) [After all, the point of a ministry is not the destruction of people, but the saving of their souls, as Jesus teaches in John 3:17.] Let's not, with Jonah, be displeased that God did not follow through on a threat and destroy a place. He doesn't want to do it, and he will relent if only the people repent. In the case of Sodom, He was willing to spare it if only 10 righteous men could be found in it (Gen 18:32).

Jeremiah, also, prophesied a lot of destruction, but in Jeremiah 18:7-8, we read, "At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them."

As Peter says in 2 Peter 3:9, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."

As for me, sitting metaphorically secure on my fortified island, may the Lord have mercy on me that I repent before the prophesied doom of Tyre be visited on me.

Answer 5

I think it means Phoenician Tyre would be permanently done for. And sure enough, Alexander devastated and replaced Phoenician Tyre. See link below on how, "Regarding Phoenician Tyre (i.e. the city prophesied against): The empire was erased. The structures were left in waste. The people were replaced." https://beliefmap.org/prophecy-fulfilled/tyre/rebuilt

Answer 6

This is something I'm investigating. The KJV (1769, Oxford) is the translation i'm primarily studying for this subject.

Here are my notes:

1. The prophecy requires there to be something built there later- at the time when the ocean covers the island, there must be something built there. "a city like cities that are no longer inhabited" not a bare rock. This is the time when Tyre will never be found again. The island is not yet covered in water, beneath the waves, so this portion is yet future. The hebrew of this is very explicit- not only will the city be uninhabited ruins under the water, but it will never be inhabited again.
2. Jesus himself states that Tyre and Sidon will exist at the day of judgment. So Tyre exists as a city then, and indeed can be found. Affirming that the "shall not be found again" of this prophecy cannot have happened yet!
3. Ezekiel 26 contains one tiny eschatological hint- "Glory in the land of the living". The juxtaposition is obviously between Jerusalem (who was mocked) and Tyre (who was mocking Jerusalem). The time when Jerusalem is made glorious is the end times, when Jesus comes to reign on earth. Jerusalem was not glorious when Tyre was a bare rock for the spreading of fishing nets- this was during the exile of the Jews.
4. That hebrew word used here that's translated as "more" can also be translated as "again" or "yet". In Jonah 3:4 it's translated as "Yet". It seems to be some indication of time. Given the later requirement that the city exist both within the prophecy and in other prophecies, it seems most internally consistent to translate this prediction as "You shall not be built for a time" "more" also fits, but if read out of context it can give the idea that Tyre would never be built again- which is incorrect both within the prophecy and in many translations this is actually what is explicitly stated- which generates an internal contradiction.
5. The word translated as being "built" here can also be translated as "restored". Another way to translate this passage would be to say "You shall not be restored again" which fits the fulfillment thus far, but may generate conflicts with the yet future sinking of Tyre into the ocean in the end times. Tyre is said to be a "terror" then.

In summary: No, the prophecy says nothing about Tyre never being rebuilt after becoming a bare rock. "Never be rebuilt" is a faulty translation which is actually internally contradictory within context.

"Be built no more" is proper, and most likely perfect for 1600-1800 english, but in modern english this still leaves the potential faulty interpretation that the state of not being built is perpetual- which happens at a different time. If you read "built" in the passage as being like "built up" (Haughty, proud, boasting) rather than having buildings present, then it fits like a glove.

Answer 7

USA is mystery Babylon which is partly clay and partly iron . Repent calling on Jesus Christ that you may be saved by The Works of the law shall no man be justified but by grace through Christ Jesus that's how we get our Grace and our faith he justifies us then we can't help but to do good for God is love.