Ezekiel 26:9
New International Version
He will direct the blows of his battering rams against your walls and demolish your towers with his weapons.

New Living Translation
He will pound your walls with battering rams and demolish your towers with sledgehammers.

English Standard Version
He will direct the shock of his battering rams against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers.

Berean Standard Bible
He will direct the blows of his battering rams against your walls and tear down your towers with his axes.

King James Bible
And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers.

New King James Version
He will direct his battering rams against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers.

New American Standard Bible
And he will direct the blow of his battering rams against your walls, and he will tear down your towers with his axes.

NASB 1995
“The blow of his battering rams he will direct against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers.

NASB 1977
“And the blow of his battering rams he will direct against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers.

Legacy Standard Bible
The blow of his battering rams he will direct against your walls, and with his swords he will tear down your towers.

Amplified Bible
He will direct the [shocking] blow of his battering rams against your walls, and he will tear down your towers with his crowbars.

Christian Standard Bible
He will direct the blows of his battering rams against your walls and tear down your towers with his iron tools.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
He will direct the blows of his battering rams against your walls and tear down your towers with his iron tools.

American Standard Version
And he shall set his battering engines against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers.

Contemporary English Version
He will command some of his troops to use large wooden poles to beat down your walls, while others use iron rods to knock down your watchtowers.

English Revised Version
And he shall set his battering engines against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
He will direct his battering rams against your walls, and he will cut down your towers with his axes.

Good News Translation
They will pound in your walls with battering rams and tear down your towers with iron bars.

International Standard Version
"'He'll direct the blows of his battering rams against your walls and will breach your fortified towers with axes.

Majority Standard Bible
He will direct the blows of his battering rams against your walls and tear down your towers with his axes.

NET Bible
He will direct the blows of his battering rams against your walls and tear down your towers with his weapons.

New Heart English Bible
He shall set his battering engines against your walls, and with his axes he shall break down your towers.

Webster's Bible Translation
And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers.

World English Bible
He will set his battering engines against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
And he places a battering-ram before him against your walls, "" And he breaks your towers with his weapons.

Young's Literal Translation
And a battering-ram before him he placeth against thy walls, And thy towers he breaketh by his weapons.

Smith's Literal Translation
And he will give the stroke of his front against thy walls, and with his sword he will tear down thy towers.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
And he shall set engines of mar and battering rams against thy walls, and shall destroy thy towers with his arms.

Catholic Public Domain Version
And he will combine moveable shelters and battering rams before your walls, and he will destroy your towers with his armaments.

New American Bible
He shall pound your walls with battering-rams and break down your towers with his axes.

New Revised Standard Version
He shall direct the shock of his battering rams against your walls and break down your towers with his axes.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
And he shall strike the sharp points of his spears against your walls, and he shall destroy your towers with his swords.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
And he will put the points of his spears in your walls, and your towers they shall tear down with their swords
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
And he shall set his battering engines Against thy walls, And with his axes He shall break down thy towers.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
He shall cast down with his swords thy walls and thy towers.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
A Prophecy Against Tyre
8He will slaughter the villages of your mainland with the sword; he will set up siege works against you, build a ramp to your walls, and raise his shields against you. 9He will direct the blows of his battering rams against your walls and tear down your towers with his axes. 10His multitude of horses will cover you in their dust. When he enters your gates as an army entering a breached city, your walls will shake from the noise of cavalry, wagons, and chariots.…

Cross References
Isaiah 23:11
The LORD has stretched out His hand over the sea; He has made kingdoms tremble. He has given a command that the strongholds of Canaan be destroyed.

Jeremiah 50:15
Raise a war cry against her on every side! She has thrown up her hands in surrender; her towers have fallen; her walls are torn down. Since this is the vengeance of the LORD, take out your vengeance upon her; as she has done, do the same to her.

Amos 1:9-10
This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Tyre, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they delivered up a whole congregation of exiles to Edom and broke a covenant of brotherhood. / So I will send fire upon the walls of Tyre to consume its citadels.”

Zechariah 9:3-4
Tyre has built herself a fortress; she has heaped up silver like dust, and gold like the dirt of the streets. / Behold, the Lord will impoverish her and cast her wealth into the sea, and she will be consumed by fire.

Isaiah 14:31
Wail, O gate! Cry out, O city! Melt away, all you Philistines! For a cloud of smoke comes from the north, and there are no stragglers in its ranks.

Jeremiah 47:4
For the day has come to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every remaining ally. Indeed, the LORD is about to destroy the Philistines, the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor.

Isaiah 23:1-18
This is the burden against Tyre: Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor. Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus. / Be silent, O dwellers of the coastland, you merchants of Sidon, whose traders have crossed the sea. / On the great waters came the grain of Shihor; the harvest of the Nile was the revenue of Tyre; she was the merchant of the nations. ...

Zephaniah 2:13-15
And He will stretch out His hand against the north and destroy Assyria; He will make Nineveh a desolation, as dry as a desert. / Herds will lie down in her midst, creatures of every kind. Both the desert owl and screech owl will roost atop her pillars. Their calls will sound from the window, but desolation will lie on the threshold, for He will expose the beams of cedar. / This carefree city that dwells securely, that thinks to herself: “I am it, and there is none besides me,” what a ruin she has become, a resting place for beasts. Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.

Isaiah 13:22
Hyenas will howl in her fortresses and jackals in her luxurious palaces. Babylon’s time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged.

Revelation 18:21-24
Then a mighty angel picked up a stone the size of a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying: “With such violence the great city of Babylon will be cast down, never to be seen again. / And the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will never ring out in you again. Nor will any craftsmen of any trade be found in you again, nor the sound of a millstone be heard in you again. / The light of a lamp will never shine in you again, and the voices of a bride and bridegroom will never call out in you again. For your merchants were the great ones of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery.” ...

Revelation 18:8
Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and grief and famine—and she will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”

Revelation 17:16
And the ten horns and the beast that you saw will hate the prostitute. They will leave her desolate and naked, and they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.

Revelation 18:2
And he cried out in a mighty voice: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a lair for demons and a haunt for every unclean spirit, every unclean bird, and every detestable beast.

Revelation 16:19
The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. And God remembered Babylon the great and gave her the cup of the wine of the fury of His wrath.

Revelation 18:10
In fear of her torment, they will stand at a distance and cry out: “Woe, woe to the great city, the mighty city of Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.”


Treasury of Scripture

And he shall set engines of war against your walls, and with his axes he shall break down your towers.

2 Chronicles 26:15
And he made in Jerusalem engines, invented by cunning men, to be on the towers and upon the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones withal. And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvellously helped, till he was strong.

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Attack Axes Battering Blow Blows Break Breaketh Broken Demolish Direct Engines Placeth Rams Shock Towers Walls War Weapons
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Attack Axes Battering Blow Blows Break Breaketh Broken Demolish Direct Engines Placeth Rams Shock Towers Walls War Weapons
Ezekiel 26
1. Tyrus, for insulting Jerusalem, is threatened with destruction
7. The power of Nebuchadnezzar against her
15. The mourning and astonishment of the sea at her fall














He will direct
The phrase "He will direct" indicates intentionality and purpose. In the Hebrew text, the verb used here is "nathan," which means to give, put, or set. This suggests a deliberate action by God through the instrument of Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king. The sovereignty of God is emphasized, as He orchestrates events according to His divine plan. This serves as a reminder of God's control over nations and history, reinforcing the belief that nothing occurs outside His will.

the blows of his battering rams
The "blows" refer to the forceful and repeated strikes against the city walls. The Hebrew word "makkot" is used here, which can mean a strike or a plague, indicating a devastating impact. "Battering rams" were ancient siege weapons used to break through fortifications. Historically, these were large beams, often with a metal head, used to pound against walls. This imagery conveys the relentless and powerful nature of the attack on Tyre, symbolizing the judgment of God against pride and sin.

against your walls
"Your walls" refers to the defensive structures of the city of Tyre. In ancient times, city walls were symbols of strength and security. The Hebrew word "chomot" is used, which denotes fortifications. The destruction of these walls signifies the vulnerability and ultimate downfall of what was once considered impregnable. Spiritually, this can be seen as a metaphor for the futility of relying on human strength and defenses against divine judgment.

and tear down your towers
The phrase "tear down your towers" further illustrates the complete destruction that is to come. "Towers" in Hebrew is "migdal," which were high structures used for defense and observation. The tearing down of these towers represents the dismantling of human pride and arrogance. Historically, Tyre was known for its strong defenses and strategic location, yet even these could not withstand the judgment decreed by God. This serves as a powerful reminder of the ultimate supremacy of God's power over human achievements.

(9) Engines of war.--This is now generally understood to mean battering-rams, although the word is a different one from that used in Ezekiel 4:2; Ezekiel 21:22. There are two words here which may form one compound word.

Axes in the original is swords. It may either be used, the specific for the general, swords for all instruments of war; or it may be a poetic hyperbole, to express the power of the swords of Nebuchadnezzar's army--they shall even break down the towers.



Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
He will direct
יִתֵּ֖ן (yit·tên)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 5414: To give, put, set

the blows
וּמְחִ֣י (ū·mə·ḥî)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 4239: A stroke, battering-ram

of his battering rams
קָֽבָלּ֔וֹ (qā·ḇāl·lōw)
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 6904: Something in front, a military siege engine

against your walls
בְּחֹֽמוֹתָ֑יִךְ (bə·ḥō·mō·w·ṯā·yiḵ)
Preposition-b | Noun - feminine plural construct | second person feminine singular
Strong's 2346: A wall of protection

and tear down
יִתֹּ֖ץ (yit·tōṣ)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 5422: To pull down, break down

your towers
וּמִ֨גְדְּלֹתַ֔יִךְ (ū·miḡ·də·lō·ṯa·yiḵ)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine plural construct | second person feminine singular
Strong's 4026: A tower, a rostrum, a, bed of flowers

with his axes.
בְּחַרְבוֹתָֽיו׃ (bə·ḥar·ḇō·w·ṯāw)
Preposition-b | Noun - feminine plural construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 2719: Drought, a cutting instrument, as a, knife, sword


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OT Prophets: Ezekiel 26:9 He shall set his battering engines against (Ezek. Eze Ezk)
Ezekiel 26:8
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