What is the context?
The Lord names Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon as the approaching ruler. The siege picture moves through ramps, battering rams, falling towers, cavalry and slaughter, until the city’s wealth and merchandise are plundered.
The announcement reaches beyond damaged defenses. Homes are demolished, building materials are thrown into the water, and the music of the city is silenced. The place of wealth and celebration becomes bare rock for fishing nets.
The strong statement about never being rebuilt has to be read alongside later biblical references. Ezekiel 29:17–21 says that Nebuchadnezzar’s army labored against Tyre without receiving wages from it. Acts 21:1–6 later describes a ship unloading cargo there and disciples living in the city.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Gill explains that the rebuilding language needs qualification, offering the loss of former grandeur or royal standing among the possible readings. He also reads the materials thrown into the water in connection with Alexander’s later attack. The earlier announcement of many nations helps explain why readers consider more than one campaign.
That later attack is independently documented. Arrian’s account describes Alexander building a causeway with stone and wood toward the island. UNESCO records the causeway and subsequent Greek and Roman construction on the site.
The question is therefore how the announced end of Tyre relates to its later settlement and changed standing. A reading centered on the destruction of its former power is an interpretation of the prophecy, not a claim that the Bible or historical records contain no later city called Tyre.
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.