And they will raise a lamentation over you, and say to you …: The rulers of the neighboring countries will sing a “funeral song” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version) for Tyre when it falls. For lamentation see the comments on 19.1. New International Reader’s Version says “song of sadness.” If possible, the song should be translated in poetic form. In Hebrew the song begins in the second person to refer to Tyre, changes to the third person in the middle, and reverts to the second person at the end. Most translators make minor changes to ensure consistency; for example, Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version use third person throughout, but Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, New International Reader’s Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version, and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch maintain second person. Either approach is acceptable. The Hebrew text adds and say to you, but this clause is slightly redundant. Translators may retain it if it is not unnatural, or they may combine it with the first clause, as Good News Translation does by saying “They will sing this funeral song for you.”

How you have vanished from the seas: As the Revised Standard Version footnote shows, it has omitted a word from the Hebrew text here. The missing word, which means “inhabited,” is retained by some translations; for example, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh renders this clause as “How you have perished, you who were peopled from the seas” (similarly New American Standard Bible), New King James Version says “How you have perished, O one inhabited by seafaring men” (similarly King James Version), and International Children’s Bible has “Tyre … you have been destroyed! Once seamen lived in you” (similarly New International Reader’s Version). Other translations change this word to mean “banished/removed/swept away”; for example, Good News Translation says “The … city is destroyed! Her ships have been swept from the seas,” and Revised English Bible has “How you are undone, swept from the seas” (similarly Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible). The meaning of this reading is almost the same as Revised Standard Version and only involves changing the vowels of the Hebrew word—the consonants are not changed. However, it is best to retain the Hebrew text with no change at all (so Hebrew Old Testament Text Project). In this reading the song talks about the destruction of Tyre, and then describes Tyre as “peopled from the seas” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), that is, the inhabitants of Tyre came from the islands and coastlands of the seas of the world. The Hebrew word for seas is plural, which implies “the vastness and variety of the world ocean” (Greenberg), suggesting that they came from far and wide. The Hebrew word rendered How is not introducing a question, but an exclamation, so it may be translated “Ah!” or “Oh dear!” Many translations barely reflect it (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). A model of this first line of the lamentation that keeps it is “How terrible for you, Tyre! Once people from all the oceans lived in you. Now you have been destroyed.”

Tyre itself is described as O city renowned (literally “the praised city”). Good News Translation says “The famous city,” which is a helpful model.

That was mighty on the sea means Tyre “had great power on the seas” (New Century Version; similarly New International Version, New International Reader’s Version, King James Version). This line refers to its control of the trading routes, rather than having political control over the people and countries on the coast (compare Contemporary English Version “Its people once ruled the coast”). Good News Translation says “The people of this city ruled the seas” (similarly New Living Translation). A better model is “The people of this city controlled trading on the sea.”

You and your inhabitants (literally “she and her inhabitants”) refers to Tyre and the people who lived there.

Who imposed your terror on all the mainland means the inhabitants of Tyre “terrified” (Contemporary English Version) all the neighboring countries. Revised Standard Version changes the Hebrew text here, which reads “who imposed their terror on all her inhabitants.” Even though Revised Standard Version‘s reading is a guess, most translations follow it. We prefer to follow the Hebrew text here (so Hebrew Old Testament Text Project). “Her inhabitants” actually refers to Tyre’s inhabitants, as it did just above. The repetition of “her inhabitants” reinforces the idea that Tyre and her merchants had power and influence in the area. The last three lines of this verse may be rendered “Tyre and the people who lived there, yes, all of its people, caused everyone to be terrified.” See also the model at the end of the discussion on verse 18.

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 .