Scripture · Daniel 5:25-28
Ezekiel 26:19-21
The Destruction of Tyre
“For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘When I make you a desolate city like other deserted cities, and when I raise up the deep against you so that the mighty waters cover you, then I will bring you down with those who descend to the Pit, to the people of antiquity. I will make you dwell in the earth below like the ancient ruins, with those who descend to the Pit, so that you will no longer be inhabited or set in splendor in the land of the living. I will make you an object of horror, and you will be no more. You will be sought, but will never be found,’ declares the Lord GOD.”
Waves overwhelm the buildings and boats of Tyre while a woman in the foreground raises her arms above the breaking water.
About the artwork
The sea occupies the role of an attacking force. Buildings and ships lose their stability together, and the woman in the ornate boat gives the wider destruction a human center. The port’s dependence on water becomes part of the picture’s drama: the element that supports trade now threatens to swallow the city.
The Toledo Museum of Art connects the 1840 painting specifically with Ezekiel 26:19. Martin selects the prophet’s image of inundation and expands it across the horizon. His architecture and immense waves create an imagined catastrophe, making prophetic language visible rather than reconstructing a single documented moment in Tyre’s history.
Featured in: Top 10 John Martin Paintings of Biblical Judgment, Explained
What does Ezekiel 26:19-21 mean?
Ezekiel 26 begins with Tyre anticipating gain from Jerusalem’s ruin. The oracle answers that confidence with a judgment against the port itself. Earlier verses name Nebuchadnezzar and describe siege weapons, breached walls and plunder; the concluding passage turns to the deep covering the city.
Verses 19–21 place Tyre among the ruined places and those who descend to the pit. Martin takes that downward movement literally within his painted world. Reading the whole chapter explains how the overwhelming sea belongs to a larger indictment of a powerful city rejoicing over another’s fall.
Martin gives Ezekiel’s image of the covering deep a vast seascape, turning Tyre’s source of prosperity into the force of its ruin.
Sources
Top 10 John Martin Paintings of Biblical Judgment, Explained. Artwork reading adapted from this guide.
Ezekiel 26 — Berean Standard Bible. Context for Ezekiel 26:19-21.
Also from Ezekiel:The Vision of EzekielThe Good Shepherd (Atlas Mountains, Morocco)
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