Bible Strands
Ezekiel 27:2
“Now you, son of man, take up a lament for Tyre.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The Lord speaks to Ezekiel immediately after delivering a prophetic declaration in Ezekiel 27:1. The command initiates a formal oracle directed at the coastal trading city of Tyre.
The words — שָׂא (sa') means "take up" or "raise," and קִינָה (ki.Nah) means "lamentation" or "dirge." Together they form the technical phrase for composing and delivering a structured mourning song.
The thread — This command mirrors the Lord's instruction to "take up a lament for the princes of Israel" in Ezekiel 19:1 and aligns with the summons to "wailing women" in Jeremiah 9:17. The pattern of prophetic dirges appears in Jeremiah 9:10 as well.
Why it lands — The text demands the prophet formally compose and voice a structured mourning for a wealthy city. The reader must recognize that prophetic lament functions as a recorded judicial pronouncement rather than a spontaneous emotional display.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus;
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 9:10 I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, a dirge over the wilderness pasture, for they have been scorched so no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not heard. Both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled; they have gone away.
- Jeremiah 9:17 This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Take note, and summon the wailing women; send for the most skillful among them.
- Ezekiel 19:1 “As for you, take up a lament for the princes of Israel
- Ezekiel 28:12 “Son of man, take up a lament for the king of Tyre and tell him that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
- Jeremiah 7:20 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and the produce of the land, and it will burn and not be extinguished.
- Ezekiel 26:17 Then they will lament for you, saying, “How you have perished, O city of renown inhabited by seafaring men—she who was powerful on the sea, along with her people, who imposed terror on all peoples!
- Ezekiel 27:32 As they wail and mourn over you, they will take up a lament for you: ‘Who was ever like Tyre, silenced in the middle of the sea?
- Ezekiel 32:2 “Son of man, take up a lament for Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him: ‘You are like a lion among the nations; you are like a monster in the seas. You thrash about in your rivers, churning up the waters with your feet and muddying the streams.’
- Amos 5:1 Hear this word, O house of Israel, this lamentation I take up against you:
- Amos 5:16 Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says: “There will be wailing in all the public squares and cries of ‘Alas! Alas!’ in all the streets. The farmer will be summoned to mourn, and the mourners to wail.