Therefore, behold …: The details of God’s punishment of the king of Tyre begin here. The connector therefore ties this verse closely with the previous one. Behold renders the emphatic Hebrew particle hinneh. Here it stresses what follows and makes it more vivid. Most English translations omit it as unnatural (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version), but translators should retain it if their language commonly uses such particles. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh renders it “I swear.” Another possible model is “Listen to this!”

I will bring strangers upon you means God will bring foreigners to attack Tyre. In many languages the verb bring is better rendered “send.” Strangers are people from another country, that is, “foreigners” (New International Version, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Moffatt).

God describes these foreigners as the most terrible of the nations. The Hebrew word for most terrible refers to someone who has great power and shows no pity at all for others (compare New International Reader’s Version, which renders this line as “They will not show you any pity at all”). As a result, others are terrified of him. Here most terrible may be rendered “cruelest” (New Century Version) or “most ruthless” (New International Version, Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Moffatt). Some translators find it more natural to express this line as a separate sentence, for example, “These foreigners will be the most cruel of all the nations.” God does not say who they are, but he has in mind Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians who began a long siege of Tyre in 586 B.C.

And they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom: The Hebrew phrase rendered draw their swords usually refers to fighting and killing people (see 5.2, where it is translated “unsheathe the sword”), but here they fight against the beauty of your wisdom (compare New Living Translation “your marvelous wisdom”). This phrase is metaphorical and refers to “the magnificence of Tyre with its beautiful buildings and other treasures, made possible through the prince’s shrewd commercial enterprises” (Block). New Century Version renders this line very well, saying “They will pull out their swords and destroy all that your wisdom has built.”

And defile your splendor repeats the ideas of the previous line, that is, the foreigners will destroy the beautiful city of Tyre. The Hebrew word for defile (chalal) has two possible meanings in this context. One possible sense is “make unclean/unholy.” Most translations follow this interpretation by saying “defile” (Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, New Living Translation, King James Version / New King James Version, New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, Jerusalem Bible), “desecrate” (New Jerusalem Bible), “stain” (Moffatt), or “dishonor” (New Century Version). One way to render the line with this sense is “They will make your beautiful [or, splendid] things unfit for worship [or, unfit for the gods].” The second possible meaning is to “pierce” (New International Version), that is, stab with a sword. New International Reader’s Version and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh follow this sense with “strike down,” and so does New American Bible with “run them [the swords] through.” A model of the line that follows this meaning is “They will strike down the beautiful things you have built.” Both interpretations are acceptable. The Hebrew word for splendor has the idea of “brightness” (King James Version) or “radiance,” and here it refers to the beauty of the impressive city of Tyre.

The last two lines of this verse may be rendered as follows:

• and they will destroy all the beautiful things that you have collected through your skill. They will destroy [or, bring disgrace upon] Tyre, that most beautiful city.

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .