Ezekiel 26:2

2“Son of man, because Tyre has said of Jerusalem, ‘Aha! The gate to the nations is broken, and its doors have swung open to me; now that she lies in ruins I will prosper,’

2“Son of man, because Tyre has said in regard to Jerusalem, ‘Aha! The gateway of the peoples is broken; it has 26:2 Lit turnedopened to me. I shall be filled, now that she is laid waste,’

2“Son of man, because Tyre has said concerning Jerusalem, ‘Aha, the gateway of the peoples is broken; it has opened to me. I shall be filled, now that she is laid waste,’

2“Son of man, because 26:2 Tyre, the Phoenician capital, was a major trading port established on the Mediterranean coast (Lebanon). An adjoining city was built on an island about a half mile off shore. Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre, without success, for fifteen years (586-571 b.c.). To prevent Nebuchadnezzar from getting their valuables, the people of Tyre moved to the island city. The conqueror destroyed the city on the mainland and left. More than two centuries later, Alexander the Great, in 332 b.c., used the ruins of the old city, even scraping up the dust, to make a causeway to the island (then home to about 30,000 people) during a seven-month siege. In the following decades sand, silt and debris collected over the causeway and the island was joined to the mainland. Its most famous export was the purple dye derived from the murex, a marine snail, found along its shores.Tyre has said against Jerusalem, ‘Aha! The gateway of the people is broken; she is open to me. I will be filled, now that she is a desolate waste,’

2“Son of man, because Tyre has said of Jerusalem, ‘Aha! The gate to the nations is broken; it has swung open to me; now that she lies in ruins I will be filled,’

2“Son of man, Tyre laughed because of what happened to Jerusalem. The people of Tyre said, ‘Jerusalem is the gateway to the nations. But the gate is broken. Its doors have swung open to us. Jerusalem has been destroyed. So now we will succeed.’ ”