In the final form of Ezekiel, a collection of oracles against the Phoenician city-state of Tyre (26:1–28:19) interrupts a series of short oracles against the minor kingdoms surrounding Israel (beginning in 25:1). The pattern of short oracles resumes with a brief oracle against the second major Phoenician port city, Sidon (28:20–23), followed by a summary and conclusion to all the oracles against the nations (28:24) and a promise of salvation for Israel (28:25–26). It seems likely, then, that this series of oracles against Tyre expanded an original collection of oracles against the nations in chapters 25–28.

Tyre was not a nation (like the nations Ezek. 25 addresses) but a single city, built on an island just off the Phoenician coast. This location made it a prime seaport, as well as a nearl…