Charles Ellicott Commentary Ezekiel 26:12

"And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise; and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses; and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the waters." — Ezekiel 26:12 (ASV)

They shall make. —In Ezekiel 26:12, the nominative changes. It is no longer Nebuchadnezzar who does these things, but “they.” This may suggest that the prophet’s vision once again passes beyond the immediate future to the long succession of calamities—beginning indeed with Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest—that were to befall Tyre. The “spoil” and “prey” should be understood more as what the Tyrians lost than what the conquerors gained.

In the prolonged sieges to which the city was subjected, there was great waste of its resources; however, their control of the water generally enabled them, before the siege ended, to send away their movable wealth, so the victor's booty was small. (Compare the end of the verse to Ezekiel 26:4.) Tyre's location naturally led to her ruins being thrown into the sea. Robinson saw in one place as many as forty or fifty marble columns beneath the water.