And I will stop the music of your songs: When God brings disaster on Tyre, its music and singing will stop (compare Lam 5.14-15). The Hebrew word for music actually refers to a murmuring or roaring sound, so New American Bible renders the music of your songs as “the noise of your songs,” and New International Version has “your noisy songs.” Models for this whole clause are “I will put an end to the sound of your songs” and “I will put an end to your singing.”

And the sound of your lyres shall be heard no more: Lyres are small stringed instruments whose strings are all of the same length. The strings are plucked with the fingers. Lyres may be rendered by a term for a local stringed instrument such as the guitar. Another possibility is to use a generic expression, such as “[stringed] musical instruments.” The passive verb shall be heard can be made active by rendering this clause as “and no longer will people be able to hear you make music on your lyres [or, musical instruments].”

A model for this verse is:

• I will stop you from singing your songs and playing your guitars. There will be no sound of music in Tyre.

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .