These lines present the Lord as the active speaker and judge of Tyre. The passage’s plain claims are that Tyre will become desolate and uninhabited, will be overwhelmed by “the deep” and “great waters,” and will be brought down with those who go to “the pit” and placed among ancient ruins (vv. 19–20). The outcome is permanent absence: Tyre will no longer “have any being,” and even searching will not find it (v. 21).

The imagery moves in stages: from city-ruin, to watery overwhelm, to a death-like descent. The text also sets a contrast: Tyre is pushed into the realm of the dead/ruins, while God says he will “set glory in the land of the living” (v. 20). The passage itself does not explain where that “land of the living” is or what form that “glory” takes.

Where interpretation differs

1) What the “deep” and “great waters” mean. Some read the water language as poetic description of invasion and collapse, using sea imagery because Tyre is a coastal power and because earlier the chapter likens attackers to waves. Others think it gestures toward an actual inundation (whether literal flooding, a catastrophic storm, or the sea “reclaiming” the site over time). The text explicitly says God will “bring up the deep” so waters “cover” Tyre; it does not specify the mechanism.

2) What “the pit” and “nether parts of the earth” describe. Many take this as standard prophetic death-language: Tyre is treated like a person going down to the grave, meaning total humiliation and removal from the world of the living. Others hear stronger claims about the underworld itself (a real realm of the dead) being invoked. The text’s explicit point is Tyre’s removal and non-inhabitation; whether it also teaches a detailed picture of the afterlife is an inference.

3) What “I will set glory in the land of the living” refers to. Some understand it as God restoring honor and security to the living world around Judah (or to God’s own people) in contrast to Tyre’s disappearance. Others read it more generally: while Tyre is erased, God’s reputation and splendor will be displayed among those still living. The verse asserts the contrast; it does not name the recipients.

Why the disagreement exists

The passage speaks in layered images rather than plain descriptions: sea-covering, descent, the pit, ancient desolations, and then “glory” in the land of the living. Because Tyre is a maritime city and because Ezekiel often uses grave/descent language to describe national collapse, readers differ on how literally to map each image to events or to beliefs about the realm of the dead.

What this passage clearly contributes

• It intensifies the oracle’s conclusion by portraying Tyre’s end as more than military defeat: it is overwhelming, burial-like removal (vv. 19–20). (Explicit)
• It stresses finality: Tyre will not be inhabited and will not be found again (vv. 20–21). (Explicit)
• It frames the fall theologically: the Lord claims control over forces pictured as the sea and the grave, and he sets a sharp contrast between Tyre’s removal and “glory” located with the living (v. 20). (Explicit contrast; the exact meaning of “glory” is not specified.)

Ezekiel 26:19–21