Ezekiel 26:19-20

Ezekiel 26:19-20

[19] For thus saith  the Lord  GOD;  When I shall make  thee a desolate  city,  that are not inhabited;  when I shall bring up  the deep  upon thee, and great  waters  shall cover  [20] When I shall bring thee down  into the pit,  with the people  of old time,  and shall set  thee in the low parts  of the earth,  in places desolate  of old,  with them that go down  to the pit,  that thou be not inhabited;  and I shall set  glory  in the land  of the living; 

What does Ezekiel 26:19-20 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

The Lord further promised that after He destroyed the city by deluging it with great waves of invaders (cf. Ezekiel 26:3), it would die like a person placed in a grave (cf31:16; 32:18 , 23-25 , 29-30). It would go down into Sheol, as it were, and so lose its glory. He pictured the island fortress as submerged beneath a sea of invaders that would bury it (cf31:14-18; 32:13-32; Isaiah 14:4-21).
"The most fearful prospect facing ancient mariners was to be caught in a storm and be "lost at sea."" [1]
Ezekiel mixed two metaphors for destruction in these verses: waves overwhelming a rocky seaside town, and a person going into the grave (pit, Sheol).