Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Ezekiel 26:14 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 14. 14And I will make thee like the top of a rock: thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more: for I the LORD have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
The prophetic word through Ezekiel carries the next action, claim, image, or measurement through “And I will make thee like the top of a rock” at Ezekiel 26:14 as part of “Nebuchadnezzar's Siege Is Described in Detail.”
Nebuchadrezzar arrives with the whole siege kit
This verse is one part of that explanation in Ezekiel 26:7–14. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- Ezekiel 26:7–14
Read Ezekiel 26:14 with 26:7–14. By itself, “And I will make thee like the top of a rock” can be detached from the speaker, addressee, date, exilic horizon, visionary movement, or outcome that gives it force. The complete unit establishes: Babylon's king, horses, siegeworks, weapons, and occupation are pictured overwhelming Tyre until it becomes a bare rock and spoil.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within the same chapter, this unit advances from “Tyre's Gloating over Jerusalem Brings an Oracle” into “Nebuchadnezzar's Siege Is Described in Detail.” Its non-interchangeable contribution is: Babylon's king, horses, siegeworks, weapons, and occupation are pictured overwhelming Tyre until it becomes a bare rock and spoil. This verse's placement is specific: The prophetic word through Ezekiel carries the next action, claim, image, or measurement through “And I will make thee like the top of a rock” at Ezekiel 26:14 as part of “Nebuchadnezzar's Siege Is Described in Detail.”
Follow the Context
- The unit begins at 26:7 with the address, action, vision, lament, or measurement named in its title.
- Babylon's king, horses, siegeworks, weapons, and occupation are pictured overwhelming Tyre until it becomes a bare rock and spoil.
- By 26:14 the movement reaches its stated warning, promise, response, or transition before the next unit begins.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
The bare-rock claim does not require pretending every detail occurred exactly as imagined.
What Remains True
The oracle's absolute destruction rhetoric stands beside Ezekiel 29:17-20's later acknowledgment of unrewarded Tyre labor. In Ezekiel 26:14, that bounded truth is carried through this verse's role: The prophetic word through Ezekiel carries the next action, claim, image, or measurement through “And I will make thee like the top of a rock” at Ezekiel 26:14 as part of “Nebuchadnezzar's Siege Is Described in Detail.”
How It Can Shape Life
- Let the book's own preserved reinterpretation teach honesty about unfulfilled detail. This verse directs that response through its exact role: The prophetic word through Ezekiel carries the next action, claim, image, or measurement through “And I will make thee like the top of a rock” at Ezekiel 26:14 as part of “Nebuchadnezzar's Siege Is Described in Detail.”
Teach It Back
Explain Ezekiel 26:14's precise role in Ezekiel 26:7–14: The prophetic word through Ezekiel carries the next action, claim, image, or measurement through “And I will make thee like the top of a rock” at Ezekiel 26:14 as part of “Nebuchadnezzar's Siege Is Described in Detail.” State how “Nebuchadnezzar's Siege Is Described in Detail” controls the line, keep this uncertainty visible—The siege description does not glorify empire, authorize attacks on cities, or erase the later textual recognition that Tyre's campaign did not yield the expected spoil.—trace role to contextual meaning to enduring truth to application, and reject one use the verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Ezekiel 26:7–14 — Nebuchadnezzar's Siege Is Described in DetailSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Ezekiel 26:7–14, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Ezekiel
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a critical apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ezek.xml, OSIS 26:7–14
Open the fixed Hebrew Ezekiel file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Notes: Ezekiel
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2016; current official PDF
Supports: Verse-level controls for difficult Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, dates, place names, textual issues, vision language, and material alternatives.
Exact location: Official NET Ezekiel PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Ezekiel 26:7–14
Open the official NET Ezekiel PDF ↗modern scholarly book course
Ezekiel course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, themes, and passage studies
Alan G. Padgett; revised by Tyler Mayfield
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, revised June 2023
Supports: Reader-oriented historical, literary, theological, and pastoral synthesis with visible alternatives and ancient-to-modern limits.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Ezekiel course, Outline and passage studies: nations, Tyre, Egypt, and laments; applied to Ezekiel 26:7–14
Open the Enter the Bible Ezekiel course ↗open university study guide series
Jeremiah and Ezekiel: Ezekiel Parts 1-3 Study Guides
Joel S. Baden and Jacqueline Vayntrub
Yale Bible Study, 2024
Supports: Current university-level literary-historical synthesis and interpretive questions, including ethical attention to gendered rhetoric and the final vision.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Ezekiel Parts 2-3 study guides: nations, watchman, shepherd, and restoration; applied to Ezekiel 26:7–14
Open the Yale Jeremiah and Ezekiel course ↗