Then …: For the connection of this verse with the previous one, see the comments above.

I will thrust you down with those who descend into the Pit: Thrust … down renders a causative form of the Hebrew verb translated descend. The Pit (also called “Sheol” in the Bible) refers to “the place of the dead” (New Century Version). New International Reader’s Version says “the grave,” but the Pit is not just a hole in the ground. In the Old Testament it is the place where all people go when they die, whether they have been good or bad. Therefore it is better to translate it as “the world of the dead” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version) rather than with a negative expression such as “hell” or “the abyss” (Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible). Those who descend into the Pit means “those who die.” Good News Translation provides a good model for these two clauses, saying “I will send you down to the world of the dead.” This rendering makes the meaning clear and still retains the idea of sending Tyre’s people down.

To the people of old: God will send the people of Tyre down to the people who died long ago, that is, to join them or be with them. The people of old are the people who were already in Sheol, that is, those who died “long ago” (New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “the long dead,” and Good News Translation has “the people who lived in ancient times” (similarly Contemporary English Version).

And I will make you to dwell in the nether world, among primeval ruins, with those who go down to the Pit: This three-part sentence is parallel to the previous one, but in a different order. I will make you to dwell may be rendered “I will make you live” (New Century Version). The nether world (literally “the land of the lowest places”) is another way of referring to the place where the dead are. When rendering this expression, translators will do well to find appropriate local terms, provided their culture has a similar concept as the Old Testament of the afterlife and the place where people go when they die. Revised English Bible and New Jerusalem Bible say “the underworld,” and Good News Translation has “underground world.” Translators may also say “the lowest places below the earth.”

Primeval renders the same Hebrew word translated of old. Here it may be rendered “ancient” (New International Version, New American Standard Bible) or “of long ago” (New Jerusalem Bible). The Hebrew word for ruins refers to the broken-down remains of old, deserted cities (see 13.4). Most translations take the phrase among primeval ruins to refer to the place where the people of Tyre will live in Sheol (so Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, New International Version, New International Reader’s Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Moffatt). However, the Hebrew actually says “like ancient ruins” (Hebrew Old Testament Text Project; similarly New American Standard Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). This reading fits the context better because God is describing the city of Tyre itself, comparing it to a person dying and going down into the underworld, where it will live as a ruined city.

With those who go down to the Pit renders the same Hebrew clause translated with those who descend into the Pit. Good News Translation translates it well here, saying “keeping company with the dead.”

So that you will not be inhabited or have a place in the land of the living: The text of these two clauses is disputed. The first clause, so that you will not be inhabited (that is, “so that no one will ever live in you again”), follows the Hebrew text, which most translations prefer. However, some change the text to read “so that you will not come back [from there]” (similarly New International Version, New International Reader’s Version, New Century Version, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible). This reading changes the vowels, but not the consonants, of the Hebrew text. It is a possible reading, but the first alternative is preferable, because the context is of a city being destroyed.

The second clause is more difficult. Revised Standard Version and New Revised Standard Version follow the most popular reading with [you will not] have a place in the land of the living (similarly Good News Translation, New International Version, New International Reader’s Version, New Century Version, Revised English Bible, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Moffatt, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Septuagint). It means that Tyre will never again exist as a city in the land of the living, that is, the world where people live. However, this reading requires a slight change to the Hebrew consonants. The Hebrew is literally “I will set glory in the land of the living” (New American Standard Bible; similarly King James Version / New King James Version). It is very difficult to make sense of this reading, but Hebrew Old Testament Text Project suggests that it might refer to God showing his glory in the world as he punishes Tyre. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh understands the first person pronoun “I” of the Hebrew text to be an old form of the second person, so it renders this clause as “you … shall not radiate splendor in the land of the living,” which means Tyre will never again be a beautiful, strong, respected city (so also New Living Translation). Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends either the first or second reading. The most that can be said for sure is that the clause probably implies that Tyre will never again exist. On this basis, the first or third readings seem preferable, but the clause is so obscure that translators are free to choose whichever of these readings makes most sense to them. Good News Translation provides a good model for the first reading, saying “you will never again … take your place in the land of the living.” A model for the second one is “I will show people in the land of the living my glory [or, splendid power].” A model for the third one is “you will never again be a place that people in the land of the living can respect.”

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 .