They will make a spoil of your riches and a prey of your merchandise: The Hebrew changes to the third person plural pronoun They here, referring to the soldiers of Nebuchadnezzar’s army. For clarity translators may render this pronoun as “Your enemies” (Good News Translation) or “His soldiers.” The Hebrew words for spoil and prey refer to the things of value that soldiers take from the people they defeat in war (see 7.21). Your riches refers to Tyre’s “wealth” (Good News Translation, New International Version, New International Reader’s Version, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or “valuable possessions” (Contemporary English Version). Your merchandise refers to the goods that the merchants of Tyre have for sale (compare New Century Version “the things you sell”). This whole sentence may be rendered “His soldiers will take for themselves your valuable possessions and the goods [or, things] you have for sale [or, trade].”

They will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses: Your walls refers to the city walls of Tyre (see Ezek 26.4). Your pleasant houses is literally “the houses of your desire.” These houses may be described as “fine” (New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, New International Reader’s Version, Revised English Bible, Moffatt), “nice” (New Century Version) or “lovely” (New Living Translation), or they may be portrayed as “expensive” (Contemporary English Version) or “luxurious” (Good News Translation, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible). Either focus is acceptable.

Your stones and timber and soil they will cast into the midst of the waters: The stones and timber (“wood” in Good News Translation) were the materials used for making the buildings of Tyre. The soil refers to the “rubble” (Good News Translation, New International Version, Revised English Bible), the debris of the demolished buildings, probably consisting of crushed plaster, broken stones, nails, and bits of wood (see Ezek 26.4). They will cast into the midst of the waters means the Babylonian soldiers will throw all the remains of the buildings in Tyre into the water, so that they cannot be used again. Tyre will be completely destroyed. Many languages will reorder this clause by saying “They will throw into the sea the stones and timber and the rubble [from the walls and houses].”

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 .