1 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Two years later…
2 "Son of man, because that Tyrus has said against Jerusalem, 'Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste:'"
Tyrus was made up of two parts; a city on the coast and an island. They were part of the Phoenicians. They were the first to really conquer the Mediterranean Sea and were incredibly rich because of this trade. They were also known for the production of a purple dye (purple is a difficult color to make with natural dyes. The Phoenicians did it by smashing a certain kind of shellfish).
Though often harassed by the Egyptians and attacked by Assyria, they were pretty secure from conquer, since armies couldn’t march across the sea to the island.
They thought that all the rich traders who dealt with Judah would come to them, now that Judah has been destroyed, and they would get richer.
3 "Therefore thus says the Lord God; 'Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causes his waves to come up.'"
“Your trouble has only just started.”
4 "'And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock.
5 "'It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea: for I have spoken it, says the Lord God: and it shall become a spoil to the nations.'"
Because of Tyrus’ location she thought no one could conquer her. God is saying different.
6 "'And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I am the Lord.
7 "'For thus says the Lord God; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people.'"
Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to the city and island for thirteen years before conquering her. It is believed that this is when the people abandoned the city part of the country and joined the others on the island.
8 "'He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field: and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a mount against thee, and lift up the buckler against thee.
9 "'And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers.
10 "'By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach.
11 "'With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground.
12 "'And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise: and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses: and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water.
13 "'And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard.
14 "'And I will make thee like the top of a rock: thou shall be a place to spread nets upon; thou shall be built no more: for I the Lord have spoken it, says the Lord God.'"
Later, Cyprus would attack and conquer the island with their navy.
The final destruction and fulfillment of this prophecy came with Alexander the Great. He laid siege for seven months, during which time his soldiers built a causeway from the mainland to the island. They used the rubble of the mainland city to build it with, scraping it down to the bare rocks. Then he simply marched his troops out, slaughtered the residents and destroyed the cities, using the stone from their buildings for his own building projects. They were literally scrapped clean.
Since this time, Tyrus has been conquered and reconquered by the Seleucid's (Syrian Empire), Rome, Crusaders and, in modern times, they have become a base for terrorists to launch attacks on Israel who bombs them back in retaliation. Though they have a pretty good tourist industry, they have never regained the power they had in the days of Ezekiel compared to their neighbors. And the mainland city was never rebuilt. It is still just a place for the fishermen to dry their nets.
15 "'Thus says the Lord God to Tyrus; Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded cry, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee?
16 "'Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay away their robes, and put off their embroidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble at every moment, and be astonished at thee.'"
The world will be stunned at the destruction of Tyrus.
17 "'And they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and say to thee, “How are thou destroyed, that wast inhabited of seafaring men, the renowned city, which was strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, which cause their terror to be on all that haunt it!”'"
Remember, at the time Ezekiel is writing this no one thinks it’s possible to conquer Tyrus. Not only were they an island, they had their own powerful navy.
18 "'Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure.'"
If it’s possible to conquer Tyrus, it’s possible to conquer any of the islands.
19 "For thus says the Lord God; 'When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee;
20 "'When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I shall set glory in the land of the living;
21 "'I will make thee a terror, and thou shall be no more: though thou be sought for, yet shall thou never be found again, says the Lord God.'"
Though there is a large city on the island now, the place of the ancient city is still uninhabited. They are conducting archaeological digs, but there is precious little to find. Potential future digs are threatened by development. I seriously doubt they will ever find much of anything.