Isaiah 23
23
An Oracle concerning Tyre
1The oracle concerning Tyre.
Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for your fortress is destroyed.#23.1 Cn Compare verse 14: Heb for it is destroyed, without houses
When they came in from Cyprus
they learned of it.
2Be still, O inhabitants of the coast,
O merchants of Sidon,
your messengers crossed over the sea#23.2 Q Ms: MT crossing over the sea, they replenished you
3and were on the mighty waters;
your revenue was the grain of Shihor,
the harvest of the Nile;
you were the merchant of the nations.
4Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken,
the fortress of the sea, saying:
“I have neither labored nor given birth,
I have neither reared young men
nor brought up young women.”
5When the report comes to Egypt,
they will be in anguish over the report about Tyre.
6Cross over to Tarshish—
wail, O inhabitants of the coast!
7Is this your exultant city
whose origin is from days of old,
whose feet carried her
to settle far away?
8Who has planned this
against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants were princes,
whose traders were the honored of the earth?
9The Lord of hosts has planned it—
to defile the pride of all glory,
to shame all the honored of the earth.
10Cross over to your own land,
O ships of#23.10 Cn Compare Gk: Heb like the Nile, daughter Tarshish;
this is a harbor#23.10 Cn: Heb restraint no more.
11He has stretched out his hand over the sea,
he has shaken the kingdoms;
the Lord has given command concerning Canaan
to destroy its fortresses.
12He said:
You will exult no longer,
O oppressed virgin daughter Sidon;
rise, cross over to Cyprus—
even there you will have no rest.
13Look at the land of the Chaldeans! This is the people; it was not Assyria. They destined Tyre for wild animals. They erected their siege towers, they tore down her palaces, they made her a ruin.#23.13 Meaning of Heb uncertain
14Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for your fortress is destroyed.
15From that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the lifetime of one king. At the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song about the prostitute:
16Take a harp,
go about the city,
you forgotten prostitute!
Make sweet melody,
sing many songs,
that you may be remembered.
17At the end of seventy years, the Lord will visit Tyre, and she will return to her trade, and will prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. 18Her merchandise and her wages will be dedicated to the Lord; her profits#23.18 Heb it will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who live in the presence of the Lord.
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Isaiah 23: NRSV
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New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
