What is the context?
The final picture is of overwhelming waters and a city descending among the dead. The loss of Tyre is described as the end of a life: it joins those who went down long ago and loses its place in the land of the living.
The Hebrew word בּוֹר, bor (bore), can refer to a pit or cistern. Brown–Driver–Briggs also identifies its use for the grave or the realm of the dead, specifically including this passage. The setting, rather than every possible meaning of the word, explains the picture here.
The Lord’s closing announcement removes the hope that Tyre’s former life can simply be recovered by searching for it. The city that expected to be filled through Jerusalem’s loss is pictured as absent from the living world.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Wesley and Cambridge understand the descent through the language of death and the grave. The USCCB notes connect the Pit with the dead dwelling in Sheol.
Wesley’s further comment about glory restored to Israel follows the positive wording of his translation at the end of verse 20. The BSB instead continues the negative statement about Tyre no longer being set in splendor among the living. Cambridge discusses both readings. The wording matters when deciding what this particular verse promises.
Where does this fit in God's plan?
John 5:24–29 moves the larger question of death and judgment toward the Son. Jesus gives eternal life to those who hear and believe, and says that those in the graves will hear His voice and come out to resurrection.
Ezekiel’s description is not an explicit prediction of that teaching. The wider connection is that neither prosperity nor death removes a person from God’s authority. Revelation 20:11–15 pictures the dead, great and small, brought before His judgment, with the sea and Hades giving up their dead. The final word belongs to God, whose Son offers life.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.