Thus says the Lord GOD to Tyre: This prophecy starts in a similar way as the previous one (compare verse 7). It is addressed to Tyre. Those languages in which it is unnatural to speak to a city may change the second person pronouns for Tyre to third person (for example, your fall may be rendered “its fall”).
Will not the coastlands shake at the sound of your fall…?: This rhetorical question may be rendered as a strong statement by beginning with the word “Surely” (Anchor Bible). The coastlands were the areas along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea and the islands just off the coast (compare Revised English Bible “the coasts and islands”). They were the neighboring cities and states that Tyre ruled and traded with. Good News Translation says “the people who live along the coast,” which is a good model. Shake at the sound of your fall means they will tremble in fear when they hear that Tyre has been defeated. New Century Version says “shake with fear when they hear about your defeat.”
When the wounded groan, when slaughter is made in the midst of you: These two clauses describe in gruesome detail what will happen during the fall of Tyre. The wounded groan refers to the people of Tyre who have been wounded in the battle and are screaming in pain, as they are dying. The Hebrew word translated wounded (literally “pierced/stabbed [with a sword]”) usually refers to those who have been killed (compare 6.4 and 9.7, where it is rendered “slain”), but here it refers to those who have been stabbed with swords but have not yet died from their wounds. Slaughter is made renders a Hebrew noun and verb from the same root. This emphatic expression is literally “a slaughter is being slaughtered,” which refers to a great massacre. The pronoun you refers to Tyre. For some languages it may be easier to reorder these two clauses to refer to the slaughter first, and then to the injured people screaming as they die (see the model below).
A model for this verse is:
• Here is what the Lord Yahweh says to Tyre: “When Nebuchadnezzar defeats you, the people who live along the coast and on the islands will hear about it and will shake with fear. They will hear that his army has killed very many people in the city, and they will hear those who have been stabbed [with swords] groan [or, cry out] in pain.
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 .