Introduction: Prophecy Concerning Tyre
Chapter 26 of Yechezkel continues the series of prophecies of retribution against the nations. Just as we saw in the previous chapter the retribution against Moav, Ammon, and the Pelishtim, who rejoiced over the fall of Jerusalem and from whom the Holy One, blessed be He, exacted punishment, so too our chapter deals with Tyre, which likewise rejoiced over the destruction of Jerusalem, and from whom the Holy One, blessed be He, will also exact punishment. The difference, as we will see, lies in the nature of that joy.
(1) וַיְהִי בְּעַשְׁתֵּי־עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה בְּאֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ הָיָה דְבַר־יְהֹוָה אֵלַי לֵאמֹר׃ - And it came to pass in the eleventh year, on the first of the month, that the word of Hashem came to me, saying:
"In the eleventh year" - it does not state of whom, but the reference is to Tzidkiyahu, and this was the year of the Destruction, as the Radak writes. "On the first of the month" - here the matter is even more obscure, since it is not specified which month is meant. The Radak assesses that it refers to the month of the Destruction, the month of Av. The Malbim likewise notes that the text does not specify which month, but in his view it refers to Elul or Tishrei, after the Destruction; for the prophecy addresses their rejoicing over the Destruction, and it is likely that it was uttered some time afterward.
(2) בֶּן־אָדָם יַעַן אֲשֶׁר־אָמְרָה צֹּר עַל־יְרוּשָׁלַיִם הֶאָח נִשְׁבְּרָה דַּלְתוֹת הָעַמִּים נָסֵבָּה אֵלָי אִמָּלְאָה הׇחֳרָבָה׃ - Son of man, because Tyre has said concerning Jerusalem, 'Aha! Broken is the gateway of the nations; it has turned to me; I shall be filled, now that she is laid waste.'
The Joy of a Competitor
Tyre had always maintained an alliance with Jerusalem. We saw this in the days of David and in the days of Shlomo: they sent assistance for the building of the Beit HaMikdash, skilled craftsmen were brought from Tyre and Sidon, and there were exchanges of land and resources. We enjoyed good relations with Tyre and Sidon. For this reason, the joy of Tyre differed from the joy of Ammon, Moav, and the Pelishtim, which was rooted in sheer hatred. With Tyre, it was not malice out of enmity, but the reaction of a business owner rejoicing that his competitor has gone bankrupt. Until now, he had to wage constant price wars and cut his margins because the rival was always offering sales, making it hard to compete. Now that the rival has collapsed, he cannot help but rejoice - not out of personal hatred, but because he expects his own business to flourish from the competitor's fall. That is precisely what occurred in Tyre: they believed that the downfall of Israel would yield great economic gain for them.
Where is this expressed? In the wording of their rejoicing: "Aha! Broken is the gateway of the nations; it has turned to me." Jerusalem had been the "merchant of the nations" - centrally located, a hub where traders and nations would converge to buy, sell, and bring their merchandise. She is called "the gateway of the nations" because all the peoples entered through this gate. Therefore, Tyre thought: now that the gate is broken, all the merchants will turn to me, to Tyre and Sidon, which was also a commercial merchant of nations and a port city where merchandise was brought. Another explanation for the title "gateway of the nations": Jerusalem acted as a barrier before the nations dwelling in the south, east, and north, whose route toward Tyre passed through Jerusalem. She stood as a closed door through which no one could pass until it was opened, and now that the door was broken open, the nations could traverse freely and come to trade in Tyre.
"I Shall Be Filled, Now That She Is Laid Waste"
"I shall be filled, now that she is laid waste" - their houses will be filled from the destruction of Jerusalem. The Malbim cites the verses in the book of Yoel (chapter 4:4-8), which we have studied: "And also what are you to Me, Tyre and Sidon and all the regions of Philistia? Are you paying Me retribution? If you deal retribution upon Me, swiftly and speedily I will return your retribution upon your own heads. For you have taken My silver and My gold, and brought My precious treasures into your temples" - proving that following the fall of Jerusalem, they took the silver and gold that had been here. This is the meaning of "I shall be filled, now that she is laid waste": she was filled from the ruin of Jerusalem. Furthermore: "And the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem you have sold to the sons of the Greeks, to remove them far from their border" - they took slaves from here and sold them, to which Hashem declares, "Behold, I will arouse them from the place where you sold them, and I will return your retribution upon your own head; and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the Shebaites, to a distant nation, for Hashem has spoken." We see that they looted, plundered, and amassed silver, gold, and captives, thereby filling themselves from Jerusalem's ruin.
Concerning this verse, Chazal made the famous statement: Tyre was filled only through the destruction of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem was filled only through the destruction of Tyre. This means: if someone tells you that both are inhabited - do not believe it; and if someone tells you that both are in ruins - do not believe it. Some have illustrated this with the image of a balance scale or a seesaw: when Tyre is at the bottom, Jerusalem is on high, for Jerusalem is filled through the ruin of Tyre. The inner principle is that there are two opposing forces in the world: the power of impurity and the kelipah, and the power of holiness (kedushah), and they cannot reign together. When holiness awakens, the kelipah is brought low; and when the kelipah rears its head, holiness is diminished. When Jerusalem is full, it is necessarily at the expense of Tyre's ruin, and vice versa.
(3) לָכֵן כֹּה אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה הִנְנִי עָלַיִךְ צֹר וְהַעֲלֵיתִי עָלַיִךְ גּוֹיִם רַבִּים כְּהַעֲלוֹת הַיָּם לְגַלָּיו׃ - Therefore, thus said the Lord Hashem: Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and I will bring up many nations against you, as the sea causes its waves to rise.
Malbim points out that Nevuchadnetzar destroyed Tzor in the twenty-seventh year of his reign. After gathering all its spoil, he set about demolishing the city, and afterward the sea rose and flooded it, for Tzor was situated on the seashore - in the northern region, around present-day Lebanon, the area known as Tyre and Sidon. Because they sat on the coast, the sea rose and swept over them. And as it is written later in chapter 29: "Yet he and his army had no wages" - and why had he no wages? Because after he gathered all its spoil, the sea came and washed everything away. Nevuchadnetzar destroyed it and received no reward, because the sea swept away all his spoils. "As the sea causes its waves to come up" - when the wind blows across the sea and raises waves upward. Targum Yonatan renders: "Like the sea rising in the surging tumult of its waves" - like the bustling, roaring sea when its waves swell.
(4) וְשִׁחֲתוּ חֹמוֹת צֹר וְהָרְסוּ מִגְדָּלֶיהָ וְסִחֵיתִי עֲפָרָהּ מִמֶּנָּה וְנָתַתִּי אוֹתָהּ לִצְחִיחַ סָלַע׃ - "They shall destroy the walls of Tzor and break down her towers; and I will scrape her dust from her and make her a bare rock."
Tzor was built upon a rock within the sea. Radak explains that in order to build it, they had to bring soil, for it is impossible to live upon bare rock; soil is needed for vegetation, and therefore they brought earth for settlement. When the sea submerges it, the earth will be washed away from it, and what will remain? "And I will make her a bare rock" - parched bedrock. Radak explains that the highest part of the rock is called tzachiyach, from the root of tzecheh tzama ("parched with thirst"), a dry, thirsty place, as in "and satisfy your soul in drought (tzahtzahot)" - He will satisfy your thirsty soul. And Yonatan translates it as "lishe'iyut kaf gali", meaning that the rock will be smooth and completely stripped of earth - from the term she'ia, a slick, bare surface upon which nothing can grow.
Malbim divides the verse into two parts: "They shall destroy the walls of Tzor and break down her towers" - this the enemies will do; "and I will scrape her dust from her" - this the Holy One, blessed be He, will do. And what soil is being referred to? According to Radak, it is the soil that had been laid down upon the rocks to make the place habitable. But according to Malbim, it refers to the earth that holds back the sea: wherever the Holy One, blessed be He, set a boundary for the sea that it cannot cross, He placed sand and earth - high dunes and mounds of dirt - which prevent the sea from bursting out of its borders. When the Holy One, blessed be He, says, "and I will scrape (ve-sichiti) her dust," He means that He will dislodge, remove, and sweep away the earth from its place, and consequently the sea will overwhelm them - a great tsunami will come and wash them away completely, leaving only bare bedrock unfit for habitation, so that it will no longer endure. Ve-sichiti is related to the phrase, "Hashem will tear down (yisach) the house of the proud" - He will uproot and dislodge it from its place.
(5) מִשְׁטַח חֲרָמִים תִּהְיֶה בְּתוֹךְ הַיָּם כִּי אֲנִי דִבַּרְתִּי נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה וְהָיְתָה לְבַז לַגּוֹיִם׃ - "It shall be a place for spreading nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken, says the Lord Hashem; and it shall become plunder for the nations."
Charamim is a term for traps and nets, as it says of the woman, "snares and nets (charamim u-metzudim)." The charamim were nets spread out in the sea to catch fish. After pulling the nets from the sea, fishermen would spread them out on the bare rock to dry, because hauling water-soaked nets home was an extremely heavy burden. By the time they finished sorting the fish and concluded their work, the nets had dried and were much easier to carry. The prophet says: this place will become a spreading place for nets in the midst of the sea - a spot where fishermen merely spread their nets out to dry.
"And it shall become plunder for the nations" - the nations that arrive later will loot and plunder it. And when will this happen? Malbim explains based on what is stated later, "and the many waters shall cover you": in the first stage, the surging waters will flood it, and as long as it is submerged beneath the water, nothing can be plundered; but afterward, the sea will recede, leaving behind dry, bare rock, and then the nations will come and plunder whatever remains there.
(6) וּבְנוֹתֶיהָ אֲשֶׁר בַּשָּׂדֶה בַּחֶרֶב תֵּהָרַגְנָה וְיָדְעוּ כִּי־אֲנִי יְהֹוָה׃ - "And her daughters who are in the field shall be slain by the sword, and they shall know that I am Hashem."
"And her daughters" - Targum Yonatan translates this as "and her villages," similar to "let the daughters of Yehudah rejoice," where the reference is not to women, but to the villages surrounding Yehudah. "Her daughters" refers to the outlying villages, which are like daughters to the mother city. Here too, "and her daughters who are in the field" denotes the surrounding villages that were subservient to her. Malbim notes the sequence: first, the siege will wipe out all those in the surrounding fields, and only then will it strike Tzor itself.
(7) כִּי כֹה אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה הִנְנִי מֵבִיא אֶל־צֹר נְבוּכַדְרֶאצַּר מֶלֶךְ־בָּבֶל מִצָּפוֹן מֶלֶךְ מְלָכִים בְּסוּס וּבְרֶכֶב וּבְפָרָשִׁים וְקָהָל וְעַם־רָב׃ - "For thus says the Lord Hashem: Behold, I will bring against Tzor Nevuchadretzar king of Bavel from the north, a king of kings, with horse, and with chariot, and with horsemen, and an assembly and a mighty army."
Nevuchadretzar is called "a king of kings" because he ruled over other kings - meaning he held dominion over the known world. He will come "with horse, and with chariot, and with horsemen," which represents his core army, as well as "an assembly and a mighty army" composed of the other nations gathered to march with him, since he ruled over kings. And this corresponds to the great storm that will arise in the sea.
Here we see two approaches among the commentators: either the great tempest is a metaphor for the mighty, surging sea, referring to Nevuchadnetzar, or it is meant literally - that the sea actually rose and swept them away. In truth, it appears that both are correct, for both came to pass: Nevuchadnetzar came to overwhelm them like a raging sea, and the sea itself literally flooded them. Indeed, Malbim links both themes together - explaining that Nevuchadnetzar first arrived and took its plunder, but before he could carry it away, the sea swept in and washed everything into its depths.
(8) בְּנוֹתַיִךְ בַּשָּׂדֶה בַּחֶרֶב יַהֲרֹג וְנָתַן עָלַיִךְ דָּיֵק וְשָׁפַךְ עָלַיִךְ סֹלְלָה וְהֵקִים עָלַיִךְ צִנָּה׃ - Your daughters in the field he shall slay with the sword, and he will set up a siege tower against you, cast up a ramp against you, and raise a buckler against you.
First, he will slay the daughter-cities belonging to Tyre that were "in the field" - meaning on the mainland, outside the sea - and afterward he will lay siege to Tyre itself. The order of the siege: first, "and he will set up a siege tower against you" - building a surrounding wall so that no one can escape from the city. After that, "and cast up a ramp against you" - piling up earth to create a ramp adjacent to the wall, from which they climb and cast sling-stones into the city. And since those atop the wall have the advantage of height and can strike those fighting below, the besieger below must make himself a shield. This is "and raise a buckler against you" - the buckler (tzinah) is a large shield to catch the arrows shot at his troops so they are not harmed.
(9) וּמְחִי קׇבׇלּוֹ יִתֵּן בְּחֹמוֹתָיִךְ וּמִגְדְּלֹתַיִךְ יִתֹּץ בְּחַרְבוֹתָיו׃ - And the strike of his receiving shield he shall direct against your walls, and your towers he shall tear down with his swords.
"And the strike of his receiving shield [mechi kavalo]" - the Malbim explains that this refers to the shield, which is intended to receive (lekabbel) the arrows. "Mechi" is an expression of wiping clean, as in "as one wipes (yimcheh) a dish" - to empty and wipe clean: he will empty and wipe away whatever the shield received. They shoot at his shield, the arrows lodge in it, and by clearing and wiping the shield of those arrows - with them and by their force, he will conquer you. In other words, he will not even need to bring weapons from outside to fight you; the very arrows you shoot at him to drive him off are the arrows he will pull from his shield and fling right back at you. Scripture comes to tell us that he will easily be able to breach Tyre's walls, besiege it, and subdue it.
Not only that, but "and your towers he will tear down with his swords" - he will not even need artillery engines or heavy siege-stones. Towers are typically torn down with battering rams and iron engines, yet he will have no need for them: a simple sword will suffice for him to tear down your towers, and your walls he will bring down with the very arrows shot at him that he wiped from his shield. Another explanation: "Mechi" is not only an expression of wiping, but also of striking, as in the Talmudic phrase "machei leih" - he struck him on the head. He will strike you with those very arrows and be satisfied with them, without needing to import heavy weaponry from the outside.
(10) מִשִּׁפְעַת סוּסָיו יְכַסֵּךְ אֲבָקָם מִקּוֹל פָּרַשׁ וְגַלְגַּל וָרֶכֶב תִּרְעַשְׁנָה חוֹמוֹתַיִךְ בְּבֹאוֹ בִּשְׁעָרַיִךְ כִּמְבוֹאֵי עִיר מְבֻקָּעָה׃ - By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover you; at the sound of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, your walls shall shake, when he enters your gates as men enter a breached city.
"By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover you" - from the sheer multitude of horses there will be so much dust that it alone would suffice to cover you, without any further fighting needed. This too is poetic imagery expressing power: the mighty force with which Nevuchadnetzar will descend upon Tyre will be so immense that the dust kicked up by his horses will completely shroud the city. "At the sound of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, your walls shall shake" - the roar of the cavalry and the chariot wheels will be so deafening that as they approach, the walls will tremble and collapse from the mere force of the sound. "When he enters your gates as men enter a breached city" - entering through your gates will be like someone walking into a city that has already been breached; he will not even need to break it open, for out of terror and dread at the sheer scale of the army, the walls and towers will crack open from the sound alone.
(11) בְּפַרְסוֹת סוּסָיו יִרְמֹס אֶת־כׇּל־חוּצוֹתָיִךְ עַמֵּךְ בַּחֶרֶב יַהֲרֹג וּמַצְּבוֹת עֻזֵּךְ לָאָרֶץ תֵּרֵד׃ - With the hoofs of his horses he shall tread down all your streets; he shall slay your people with the sword, and the monuments of your strength shall go down to the ground.
With the hooves of his horses he will trample the streets, as if there were no pavement or solid ground there at all, but everything is trodden down and turned into mud. This too expresses how effortless the conquest will be: with such ease, everything will be flattened under the horses' hooves. Not only that, but "he shall slay your people with the sword" - once inside, he will put the populace to the sword. "And the monuments of your strength shall go down to the ground" - the mighty monuments and bastions, the strong fortifications where they took refuge; he will cast their glory down to the earth and bring them low.
(12) וְשָׁלְלוּ חֵילֵךְ וּבָזְזוּ רְכֻלָּתֵךְ וְהָרְסוּ חוֹמוֹתַיִךְ וּבָתֵּי חֶמְדָּתֵךְ יִתֹּצוּ וַאֲבָנַיִךְ וְעֵצַיִךְ וַעֲפָרֵךְ בְּתוֹךְ מַיִם יָשִׂימוּ׃ - And they shall plunder your wealth and loot your merchandise; and they shall break down your walls and tear down your delightful houses; and your stones, your timber, and your dust they shall lay in the midst of the water.
What is the difference between "your wealth" (cheilech) and "your merchandise" (rekulatech), and between "plunder" (shalalu) and "loot" (bazeizu)? The Malbim has already explained in several places that shalal (spoil/plunder) is what the enemy takes from what is abandoned on its own - the defeated people flee and leave the spoil behind. Bizah (looting/booty), on the other hand, is what individual soldiers plunder for themselves, each man taking what he can. Therefore, Scripture says: the treasures you possess will become plunder (shalal) - you will abandon all your treasures and flee; while what the soldiers loot for themselves is "your merchandise" (rekulatech) - the small goods of the peddlers and merchants, which every soldier will go in and seize for himself. Thus it says of them "they will loot" (bazeizu), because this is the booty of individuals.
And after the plunder, they will occupy themselves with demolishing the wall and turning everything into water: "And they shall break down your walls and tear down your delightful houses" - they will smash your pleasant, beautiful homes; "and your stones, your timber, and your dust they shall lay in the midst of the water" - everything will be cast into the water. It is the customary way of conquering enemies to leave behind scorched earth, but here, as we shall see further on, it was not scorched earth but earth submerged in water, as the sea surged over Tyre. Furthermore, the Malbim notes the precision in the duplicate phrasing "they shall break down (veharasu)" and then "they shall tear down (yittotzu)": there is a distinction between harisah and netitzah - harisah means breaking down or demolishing, whereas netitzah means pulverizing into small fragments. This tells you that they will not suffice with demolishing the walls, but will also seek to shatter your delightful houses and reduce them to fine gravel.
(13) וְהִשְׁבַּתִּי הֲמוֹן שִׁירָיִךְ וְקוֹל כִּנּוֹרַיִךְ לֹא יִשָּׁמַע עוֹד׃ - And I will cause the noise of your songs to cease, and the sound of your lyres shall no more be heard.
Here it is already the word of Hashem: Afterward I will deal with you to silence the multitude of your songs. What does this mean? We saw earlier in the prophecy regarding Tyre: "Take a lyre, go about the city, O forgotten harlot." After Tyre was destroyed by the king of Assyria in the days of Chizkiyahu, it was rebuilt a second time and experienced a resurgence after the destruction. At that time, the prophet described her as having taken a lyre and sung songs to remind all who courted her that she had returned to her youth and her former glory. The allegory is that those who court her are those who conduct commerce with her. Tyre, as noted, was the merchant of the nations, a place where everyone came to buy and sell. When she fell, damage was done to the nations, and when she rose again, she wanted to announce to all that she was resuming her commerce; thus she took a lyre to proclaim it to everyone.
Now, however, Hashem says: The second downfall will be absolute. "And I will cause the noise of your songs to cease" - you will no longer walk about with a lyre to announce that you are back in business. "And the sound of your lyres shall no more be heard" - not like the previous time, when there was a fall followed by the sound of your lyre summoning the merchants back to you. Here, they will not hear you calling the merchants ever again, for your downfall will be total and your eradication complete, as we will see ahead.
(14) וּנְתַתִּיךְ לִצְחִיחַ סֶלַע מִשְׁטַח חֲרָמִים תִּהְיֶה לֹא תִבָּנֶה עוֹד כִּי אֲנִי יְהֹוָה דִּבַּרְתִּי נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה׃ - And I will make you a bare rock; you shall be a place for spreading nets; you shall never be rebuilt, for I, the Lord, have spoken, says the Lord God.
"And I will make you a bare rock" - a parched rock. The sea will surge and wash over Tyre, stripping away the soil upon it until nothing remains but dry rock. Why is it called bare (tzechiyach)? Because it is exposed to the blazing sun and thoroughly dried out. It will no longer be fit for human habitation. What will it be fit for? For a place to spread nets (mishtach charamim), to spread the fishing nets that fishermen dry at the end of their workday so they are easy to carry. It is impractical to spread a net over soil, where it becomes muddied, whereas upon dry rock it is convenient and dries well. Thus, it will never be rebuilt, fit only as a place for drying nets.
The Abarbanel's Question: But Did Not Alexander of Macedon Destroy It?
The Abarbanel, as cited here by the Malbim, asks: We see that Tyre was rebuilt a second time, until Alexander of Macedon destroyed it - so if the destruction described here is the one wrought by Nevuchadnetzar, how can it say "you shall never be rebuilt"? Alexander of Macedon lived several centuries later, at least three hundred years after this, and if he came and leveled the city, that proves it was rebuilt a second time. Consequently, the Abarbanel was compelled to explain that the prophecy refers to the destruction wrought by Alexander.
The Malbim explains that this is not the plain meaning of the text. The literal meaning is as we saw above: Scripture explicitly mentions Nevuchadnetzar, and therefore the prophecy speaks of Nevuchadnetzar's conquest. As for Alexander of Macedon destroying it after it was rebuilt, this poses no difficulty, because it was not rebuilt on its original site. This is analogous to an ir hanidachat (an idolatrous city), which may not be rebuilt as it originally was, but may be turned into gardens and orchards. That is to say, they did not rebuild the city itself in that exact location, but built alongside it, and that was the city of Tyre that Alexander of Macedon destroyed. We find a similar precedent regarding Yericho, where a ban was placed prohibiting its rebuilding, yet Chiel of Beit Ha'Eli built not on the original site itself, but adjacent to it. However, with Yericho the warning was twofold: neither to build a city named Yericho, nor to build on that site under a different name. In any event, its name could not be perpetuated, which is why he was punished. Nonetheless, we see the principle that cities were frequently built alongside the original location. So it was with Tyre: the city destroyed by Alexander of Macedon centuries later was not the ancient, original Tyre, which was destroyed and never rebuilt, in accordance with the word of Hashem.
(15) כֹּה אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה לְצוֹר הֲלֹא מִקּוֹל מַפַּלְתֵּךְ בֶּאֱנֹק חָלָל בֵּהָרֵג הֶרֶג בְּתוֹכֵךְ יִרְעֲשׁוּ הָאִיִּים׃ - Thus says the Lord God to Tyre: Shall not the islands shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when slaughter is wrought in your midst?
Here there are two distinct stages. The first stage: "Shall not the islands shake at the sound of your fall" - even before its ultimate downfall, the mere rumor of its collapse generated widespread dread. "When the wounded groan, when slaughter is wrought in your midst" - during the battle itself there was the groaning of the mortally wounded, who typically fall in combat; and afterward, when the city was breached, widespread slaughter ensued, with everyone put to the sword. The prophet says: Even over this, the islands will shake. Even prior to the moment your downfall becomes final, merely upon hearing that stability there has crumbled, the islands will already tremble. And how is this seen?
(16) וְיָרְדוּ מֵעַל כִּסְאוֹתָם כֹּל נְשִׂיאֵי הַיָּם וְהֵסִירוּ אֶת־מְעִילֵיהֶם וְאֶת־בִּגְדֵי רִקְמָתָם יִפְשֹׁטוּ חֲרָדוֹת יִלְבָּשׁוּ עַל־הָאָרֶץ יֵשֵׁבוּ וְחָרְדוּ לִרְגָעִים וְשָׁמְמוּ עָלָיִךְ׃ - Then all the princes of the sea shall step down from their thrones, remove their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments; they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit upon the ground, tremble every moment, and be appalled over you.
Consider the magnitude of this downfall and the tremendous shockwave it will send throughout the region: All the princes of the sea will descend from their thrones, cast off their royal attire and even their outer robes. "They shall clothe themselves with trembling" - in place of royal cloaks they will put on dread, donning sackcloth and ashes to show their terror. And how will they step down from their thrones? "They shall sit upon the ground." Then they will tremble, and according to the Malbim, this dread has two aspects: First, "tremble every moment," fearing at every passing second that the enemy is about to advance on them as well; and second, "and be appalled over you," mourning over your tragic calamity.
Rashi explains lirga'im as an expression of breaking: they will tremble lest the enemy come upon them and cause them ruin like your ruin, lest they too be broken. And how do we know that rega'im can mean breaking? As in "stirs [roge'a] the sea," "the skin of my flesh is broken [ori raga]," and "against the quiet [rigei] of the land." He also cites Menachem, who explained it in the sense of a moment, as in "For His anger is but for a moment [ki rega be'apo]" - and this is the approach adopted by the Malbim: that they will tremble at every single moment lest the enemy fall upon them.
(17) וְנָשְׂאוּ עָלַיִךְ קִינָה וְאָמְרוּ לָךְ אֵיךְ אָבַדְתְּ נוֹשֶׁבֶת מִיַּמִּים הָעִיר הַהֻלָּלָה אֲשֶׁר הָיְתָה חֲזָקָה בַיָּם הִיא וְיֹשְׁבֶיהָ אֲשֶׁר־נָתְנוּ חִתִּיתָם לְכׇל־יוֹשְׁבֶיהָ׃ - And they shall raise a lamentation over you and say to you: How you are destroyed, who were inhabited from the seas, the renowned city that was mighty on the sea, she and her inhabitants, who cast their dread upon all its inhabitants!
All the kings who sit on the ground and hear of your downfall will lament over you and say: How have you perished? After all, by natural means it was nearly impossible to conquer you, and for several reasons. First, "inhabited from the seas" - you dwell in the midst of seas, and the sea is considered a place of defense, a stronghold, and a shelter. That is if we read miyyamim with a dagesh in the mem, as the plural of sea (yam), like "and to the gathering of the waters He called seas [yamim]." But Rashi notes that some vocalize it without a dagesh - miyamim - and then the meaning is from ancient times: you had longevity, having been settled since days of old, so how could anyone overcome you? Second, "the renowned city that was mighty on the sea" - you had fortresses and towers. Third, "she and her inhabitants" - her inhabitants were also warriors and strongmen. And fourth, "who cast their dread upon all its inhabitants" - the seas in which she sat cast their terror and dread upon all, and she was fortified by the sea surrounding her, with all the sea-warriors around her aiding her and striking fear into anyone who wished to harm Tyre, in the sense of "and the fear of you and the dread of you [umora'achem vechitchem]." Thus, for a city that possessed so many reasons to endure and overcome her enemies - how could she have fallen? "How you are destroyed!"
(18) עַתָּה יֶחְרְדוּ הָאִיִּן יוֹם מַפַּלְתֵּךְ וְנִבְהֲלוּ הָאִיִּים אֲשֶׁר־בַּיָּם מִצֵּאתֵךְ׃ - Now the islands shall tremble on the day of your downfall, and the islands that are in the sea shall be dismayed at your departure.
Here he completes what he began: if merely from the "sound" of your downfall, which was nothing more than a rumor beginning to circulate, there was such a commotion that the princes of the sea descended from their thrones - kal vachomer (how much more so) now. "Now the islands shall tremble on the day of your downfall" - now it is not just a rumor or a sound, but the actual day, the very day of the fall, an absolute collapse. "And the islands that are in the sea shall be dismayed at your departure" - that you will depart from the sea: the waters will cover you, you will no longer be visible above the surface of the sea, having ceased to be an island. Nothing of her will remain except a few bare rocks upon which nets are spread out to dry. Such a total collapse - what an uproar it will cause, and how much terror it will bring!
(19) כִּי כֹה אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה בְּתִתִּי אֹתָךְ עִיר נֶחֱרֶבֶת כֶּעָרִים אֲשֶׁר לֹא־נוֹשָׁבוּ בְּהַעֲלוֹת עָלַיִךְ אֶת־תְּהוֹם וְכִסּוּךְ הַמַּיִם הָרַבִּים׃ - For thus said the Lord God: When I make you a desolate city, like the cities that are uninhabited, when I bring up the deep upon you, and the great waters cover you.
Your destruction will be such that it will seem as if you were never inhabited at all: the entire settlement will be wiped away when I bring up the waters of the deep upon you, as though you had never been inhabited. Radak, following Targum Yonatan, explains this metaphorically: "When I bring up the deep upon you, and the great waters cover you" - meaning that many nations will come and cover you. We often find that an enemy advancing upon a nation to conquer it is compared to vast waters sweeping over it, and here too, this is a metaphorical expression for an enemy that sweeps through and obliterates everything. However, as noted at the beginning of the chapter, both aspects are true: the sea literally submerged them, and it is also a poetic expression describing an enemy advancing against her with tremendous force, like surging waters.
(20) וְהוֹרַדְתִּיךְ אֶת־יוֹרְדֵי בוֹר אֶל־עַם עוֹלָם וְהוֹשַׁבְתִּיךְ בְּאֶרֶץ תַּחְתִּיּוֹת כׇּחֳרָבוֹת מֵעוֹלָם אֶת־יוֹרְדֵי בוֹר לְמַעַן לֹא תֵשֵׁבִי וְנָתַתִּי צְבִי בְּאֶרֶץ חַיִּים׃ - Then I will bring you down with those who descend into the pit, to the people of antiquity, and I will place you in the nether parts of the earth, like ruins of old, with those who descend into the pit, so that you will not be inhabited; and I will set glory in the land of the living.
"Then I will bring you down with those who descend into the pit" - the people and the multitude residing there in Tyre will descend with those who go down to the pit, "to the people of antiquity [el am olam]." And who are they? The Generation of the Flood, who were all wiped out by water. "Like ruins of old, with those who descend into the pit" - alongside those who have dwelt there from antiquity; "so that you will not be inhabited" - you will dwell with them there, ensuring that you will exist no more and never be rebuilt. For when ruins remain in the lowest depths of the earth, nothing new can ever be erected there.
As discussed several times previously, in ancient times, whenever a city was destroyed, it was customary to rebuild it in the exact same location, for several reasons. First, the infrastructure was already there, whereas starting afresh to channel water to a city, dig cisterns, and haul stones is a complex undertaking. Second, in those days, builders would take the stones of the old structure and rebuild with them. The building material was not cinder blocks - today, when a block is demolished, nothing can be done with it; it is discarded as rubble. But back then, when a structure was torn down, all of its stones remained intact, for they were hewn rocks, and even when a building fell, a rock did not crumble into dust or gravel. Once the building was brought down, people would simply take the stones and re-erect them, like Lego bricks that had fallen over. Thus, the natural inclination was to rebuild in the very place that had been destroyed. But here, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: you will be in the nethermost parts of the earth like ruins of old, so that you will never be inhabited - because the waters washed you away and the entire city sank beneath the surface of the sea, the location itself is submerged, and it will be impossible to build there; no one will ever return to rebuild it.
"And I will set glory [tzevi] in the land of the living" - and then the land of the living will have stature and endurance, and My desire will be upon it. This aligns with what was explained earlier: Jerusalem was filled only from the ruin of Tyre. The moment Tyre is destroyed, there will be glory, stability, and enduring existence for the land of the living - for Jerusalem, the Holy City.
(21) בַּלָּהוֹת אֶתְּנֵךְ וְאֵינֵךְ וּתְבֻקְשִׁי וְלֹא־תִמָּצְאִי עוֹד לְעוֹלָם נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה׃ - I will make you a terror, and you shall be no more; though you are sought, you shall never be found again, says the Lord God.
What is the meaning of "balehot" (terrors / ruin)? Rashi cites Targum Yonatan, "kedilo havat," meaning as if "bal heyot" - as though it had never existed at all. Others explain, as Rashi cites, that it refers to a place where satyrs and harmful spirits dance. The Radak offers an explanation that seems closest to the plain sense of Lashon HaKodesh: "balehot" is an anagram of "behalot" (panics / terrors), with transposed letters, similar to keves and kesev (lamb), simlah and salmah (garment), lahak and kahal (assembly), and the like. "I will make you [balehot]" - anyone who sees you will be terrified by the utter ruin and destruction that has befallen Tyre. And the Malbim explains that the intent is as if she walks toward the terrors, for we have seen that He placed her in the nether parts of the earth, in the depths of the sea. And who are the "terrors"? These are the demons beneath the sea.
"Though you are sought, you will never be found again forever" - even if they seek you out and wish to establish an inhabited city in your place, it will be impossible, since your place will no longer be found, for the sea has covered you. And the settlement built later and called Tyre - says the Malbim - is not ancient Tyre. Ancient Tyre was completely wiped out when, after Nevuchadnetzar gathered the spoil, the sea came and washed everything away; and what they later built under the name Tyre was constructed in an adjacent location, not in that very spot.
In summary:
The chapter opens with Tyre's rejoicing over the destruction of Yerushalayim - the glee of a commercial rival anticipating enrichment from the ruin of its neighbor: "Broken are the doors of the nations, it has swung open to me; I shall be filled, now that she is ruined." Measure for measure, the Holy One, blessed be He, brings against her Nevuchadnetzar, king of kings, who slays her daughters in the field, besieges her with siege towers, mounds, and bucklers, and conquers her with tremendous ease - through the arrows shot at him, the sound of his horsemen, and the clamor of his chariots. After he takes her spoil, the Holy One, blessed be He, removes the earth that holds back the sea, and the waters rise and submerge her, leaving nothing behind but a bare rock for spreading nets. Her fall is absolute: the music of her harps will no longer be heard to summon merchants, she will be brought down with those who descend to the Pit, to the people of antiquity, and she will be sought but never found. All this is because they represent two opposing forces that cannot reign together: Tyre was filled only through the destruction of Yerushalayim, and Yerushalayim will be filled only through the destruction of Tyre - "And I will set glory in the land of the living."