Ezekiel 26:21
in Ezekiel 26I will make you an object of horror, and you will be no more. You will be sought, but will never be found,’ declares the Lord GOD.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt no more have any being; though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord Jehovah.
KJV
I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more: though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord God.
⋯
This verse in Ezekiel 26
Commentary
10 notes on this verseI will make thee a terror,.... To all the isles round about, who shall shake and tremble at the ruin of Tyre, as before observed; or to herself, being brought into a most terrible and distressed condition: and thou shall be no more: in the same place and situation, in the same happy state and condition: though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord God: this is true of the antitype, Babylon, or antichrist, Rev 18:21.
This site's exposition
raise up the deep against you
on Ezekiel 26:19-21
The last movement pictures the city sent down into the pit among the people of old time. The closing sentence is absolute, I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more. Keil reads the finality as prophetic certainty stated in its full and strongest form.
This site's exposition
will be sought, but will never be found
Travelers seeking the famed market would find nothing of its glory. The phrase an object of horror and no more returns at 27:36 and 28:19. It closes each of the three oracles against Tyre.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 19 onwards) Because this is what the Lord (the Vulgate adds God) says: When I make you a desolate city like cities that are uninhabited, and I bring an abyss upon you, and many waters cover you, and I bring you down with those who descend into the pit (or to those who descend into the grave) to the everlasting people, and I place you in the farthest land (or in the depths of the earth) like the ancient wildernesses, with those who are brought down into the pit (or descend into the grave), so that you will not be inhabited, and when I give glory in the land of the living (or so that you will not rise again in the land of the living), I will bring you to nothing (or I will give you destruction) and you will not be, and you will not be sought after (the Vulgate adds anymore) forever, says the Lord God.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
She is turned - The trading interest will turn to me. Scrape - I will leave thee nothing; thou shalt be scraped, and swept, that not so much as dust shall remain in thee. Like - As bare as was the rock on which thy city is built.
This prophecy is dated in the eleventh year, which was the year that Jerusalem was taken, and in the first day of the month, but it is not said what month, some think the month in which Jerusalem was taken, which was the fourth month, others the month after; or perhaps it was the first month, and so it was the first day of the year.
Note, It is just with God to make those a terror to their neighbours, by the suddenness and strangeness of their punishment, who make themselves a terror to their neighbours by the abuse of their power.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Yet shalt thou never be found again - This is literally true; there is not the smallest vestige of the ancient Tyre, that which was erected on the main land. Even the ground seems to have been washed away; and the new Tyre is in nearly a similar state. I think this prophecy must be extended to the whole duration of Tyre. If it now be found to be in the state here described, it is sufficient to show the truth of the prophecy.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Even mighty Carthage used to send a yearly offering to the temple of Hercules at Tyre: and the mother city gave high priests to her colonies. Hence the consternation at her fall felt in the widely scattered dependencies with which she was so closely connected by the ties of religion, as well as commercial intercourse. shake--metaphorically: "be agitated" (Jer 49:21).
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
terror--an example of judgment calculated to terrify all evildoers. thou shall be no more--Not that there was to be no more a Tyre, but she was no more to be the Tyre that once was: her glory and name were to be no more. As, to Old Tyre, the prophecy was literally fulfilled, not a vestige of it being left.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
11 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בַּלָּה֥וֹת | balahot | terrors | H1091 → | 10 times |
| אֶתְּנֵ֖ךְ | ʾetenekh | I will give to you | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| וְאֵינֵ֑ךְ | veeinekh | and there not [will be] you | H369 → | 789 times |
| וּֽתְבֻקְשִׁ֗י | utevukshi | so you may be sought | H1245 → | 225 times |
| וְלֹֽא־ | velo'- | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תִמָּצְאִ֥י | timatzei | you will be found | H4672 → | 455 times |
| עוֹד֙ | ʾod | again | H5750 → | 490 times |
| לְעוֹלָ֔ם | leolam | for ever | H5769 → | 438 times |
| נְאֻ֖ם | neum | [the] utterance of | H5002 → | 376 times |
| אֲדֹנָ֥י | ʾadonai | [the] Lord | H136 → | 440 times |
| יְהֹוִֽה׃ ס | yahweh | Yahweh | H3069 → | 306 times |
בַּלָּה֥וֹתterrors
balahotH1091 →10 times
אֶתְּנֵ֖ךְI will give to you
ʾetenekhH5414 →2011 times
וְאֵינֵ֑ךְand there not [will be] you
veeinekhH369 →789 times
וּֽתְבֻקְשִׁ֗יso you may be sought
utevukshiH1245 →225 times
וְלֹֽא־and not
velo'-H3808 →5168 times
תִמָּצְאִ֥יyou will be found
timatzeiH4672 →455 times
עוֹד֙again
ʾodH5750 →490 times
לְעוֹלָ֔םfor ever
leolamH5769 →438 times
נְאֻ֖ם[the] utterance of
neumH5002 →376 times
אֲדֹנָ֥י[the] Lord
ʾadonaiH136 →440 times
יְהֹוִֽה׃ סYahweh
yahwehH3069 →306 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 37:36yet he passed away and was no more; though I searched, he could not be found.
it leads to
- Psalms 37:10
Yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Acts 12:22–23
And they began to shout, “This is the voice of a god, not a man!”
- Psalms 37:10
Through
Revelation 18:21Then 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…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 51:63–64
When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and cast it into the Euphrates.
- Revelation 5:2
And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?”
- Jeremiah 51:63–64
Through
Ezekiel 27:36Those who trade among the nations hiss at you; you have come to a horrible end and will be no more.’”
it leads to
- Jeremiah 18:16
They have made their land a desolation, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and shake their heads.
- Zephaniah 2:15
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…
- Jeremiah 19:8
I will make this city a desolation and an object of scorn. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff at all her wounds.
- Psalms 37:36
yet he passed away and was no more; though I searched, he could not be found.
- Jeremiah 18:16
About Ezekiel
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Ezekiel; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Patrick Fairbairn, An Exposition of Ezekiel and Patrick Fairbairn, Ezekiel and the Book of His Prophecy.