Tim Maas Supporter Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

Aside from the ruins of the ancient city of Tyre that remain in modern times, my understanding is that the the city's former location corresponds to the site of the present-day town of Sur (also spelled Sour) on the Mediterranean coast in southern Lebanon, approximately 50 miles south of Beirut, with a population of approximately 120,000.

August 20 2019 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Jack Gutknecht Supporter Arizona Bible College & Dallas Seminary graduate, Pentair

From Ezekiel 26:14, "never be rebuilt" is best understood to mean that Tyre's glory and prestige would never be restored. It took Nebuchadnezzar 13 years to conquer Tyre (598 to 587/586 B.C.); it is not known for certain that the island portion of the city fell at that time. 

The Babylonians of whom Nebuchadnezzar was king threw timbers from which Tyre was built into the water and claimed the spoils for themselves.

Nebuchadnezzar did destroy the coastal cities. However, the people of the port of Tyre had obviously relocated to the island city, which they were able to successfully defend against the Babylonian invaders. Nebuchadnezzar had defeated and plundered the cities on the shore, as Ezekiel prophesied in Ezekiel 26:7-11, but he could not defeat the island city. This fact is reported in Ezekiel 29:18.

Further, the prophecy predicted of what would happen to the island settlement, Tyre, in Ezekiel 26:14, was fulfilled later when Alexander the Great finally conquered it. He threw the rubble of the mainland city into the sea until it made a bridge to the island. Then he marched across the bridge and destroyed the island in 332 B.C. 

Today the island city of Tyre exists as a small town of 5,000 although another source says it is still a pile of rubble, a testimony to God's judgment.

August 21 2019 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Jeffrey Johnson Supporter

What remains of Tyre today? Ezekiel 26:14

This was fulfilled more than 250 years later, when Alexander the Great attacked the island city of Tyre. Alexander's soldiers scraped up all the debris from the ruined mainland city and threw it into the sea, creating a half-mile [800 m] causeway to the island city. Then, with intricate siege work, they scaled the 150-foot-high [46 m] walls to take the city in 332 B.C.E.

What remains of Tyre today? (Ezekiel 26:14)

Ezekiel foretold that Tyre would be scraped clean and left like a bare rock, a place for fishermen to spread their nets. That prophecy targeted the ancient island and coastal city of Tyre, not the entire region. To answer what stands there today, we look at the historical and geographical reality.

Ancient Tyre's fate

The original city consisted of two parts:

A mainland city on the coast

An island city about half a mile offshore

Both were powerful Phoenician centres for trade, shipbuilding, and commerce.

Destruction

Nebuchadnezzar II attacked the mainland city around 586 BC. It fell after a long siege.

Later empires—Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Crusader, and Ottoman—occupied the site, but none restored its former glory.
Ezekiel's imagery of a scraped rock fits the island portion, which was stripped of soil, walls, and structures during Alexander's assault.

What is there today?

Modern Tyre exists, but not on the original island fortress as it once stood. The causeway Alexander built eventually collected silt and expanded, turning the island into a peninsula. Today:

1. A modern Lebanese city

Tyre (Sūr in Arabic) is a functioning city in southern Lebanon with:

Residential districts

Markets

Schools

A fishing harbour

Tourism and archaeological sites

It is not a rebuilt version of the ancient island stronghold; it is a contemporary Middle Eastern coastal city.

2. Archaeological remains

The area contains:

Roman hippodrome

Colonnades

Necropolis

Ruins from various eras

These are scattered across the peninsula and mainland, but the original Phoenician island city is gone.

3. The "bare rock" area

The specific zone Ezekiel described—where the island fortress once stood—is now:

A flat, rocky shoreline

Used by local fishermen

Largely devoid of ancient structures

Marked by exposed stone and shallow waters

This fulfils the imagery of fishermen spreading nets, still seen along parts of the peninsula's coast.

Summary

Ancient Tyre's island fortress no longer exists.

The site is now a rocky peninsula shoreline used by fishermen.

The broader area hosts the modern city of Tyre, but the original 
Phoenician stronghold remains destroyed and unreconstructed.

Archaeological remains exist, but they belong to later civilisations, not the original island city Ezekiel addressed.

In short: the ancient island city is gone; the modern city stands nearby, and the former fortress area is a rocky coastal zone used by fishermen, matching Ezekiel's description.

October 09 2026 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report