Isaiah 23
1 This is the burden against Tyre: Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor. Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus.
The word about Tyre. Let a cry of sorrow go up, O ships of Tarshish, because your strong place is made waste; on the way back from the land of Kittim the news is given to them.
2 Be silent, O dwellers of the coastland, you merchants of Sidon, whose traders have crossed the sea.
Send out a cry of grief, you men of the sea-land, traders of Zidon, who go over the sea, whose representatives are on great waters;
3 On the great waters came the grain of Shihor; the harvest of the Nile was the revenue of Tyre; she was the merchant of the nations.
Who get in the seed of Shihor, whose wealth is the trade of the nations.
4 Be ashamed, O Sidon, the stronghold of the sea, for the sea has spoken: “I have not been in labor or given birth. I have not raised young men or brought up young women.”
Be shamed, O Zidon: for the sea, the strong place of the sea has said, I have not been with child, or given birth; I have not taken care of young men, or kept watch over the growth of virgins.
5 When the report reaches Egypt, they will writhe in agony over the news of Tyre.
When the news comes to Egypt they will be bitterly pained at the fate of Tyre.
6 Cross over to Tarshish; wail, O inhabitants of the coastland!
Go over to Tarshish; give cries of sorrow, O men of the sea-land.
7 Is this your jubilant city, whose origin is from antiquity, whose feet have taken her to settle far away?
Is this the town which was full of joy, whose start goes back to times long past, whose wanderings took her into far-off countries?
8 Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose traders are princes, whose merchants are renowned on the earth?
By whom was this purposed against Tyre, the crowning town, whose traders are chiefs, whose business men are honoured in the land?
9 The LORD of Hosts planned it, to defile all its glorious beauty, to disgrace all the renowned of the earth.
It was the purpose of the Lord of armies to put pride to shame, to make sport of the glory of those who are honoured in the earth.
10 Cultivate your land like the Nile, O Daughter of Tarshish; there is no longer a harbor.
Let your land be worked with the plough, O daughter of Tarshish; there is no longer any harbour.
11 The LORD has stretched out His hand over the sea; He has made kingdoms tremble. He has given a command that the strongholds of Canaan be destroyed.
His hand is stretched out over the sea, the kingdoms are shaking: the Lord has given orders about Canaan, to make waste its strong places.
12 He said, “You shall rejoice no more, O oppressed Virgin Daughter of Sidon. Get up and cross over to Cyprus— even there you will find no rest.”
And he said, There is no more joy for you, O crushed virgin daughter of Zidon: up! go over to Kittim; even there you will have no rest.
13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans — a people now of no account. The Assyrians destined it for the desert creatures; they set up their siege towers and stripped its palaces. They brought it to ruin.
14 Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for your harbor has been destroyed!
Let a cry of sorrow go up, O ships of Tarshish: because your strong place is made waste.
15 At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years—the span of a king’s life. But at the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot:
And it will be in that day that Tyre will go out of mind for seventy years, that is, the days of one king: after the end of seventy years it will be for Tyre as in the song of the loose woman.
16 “Take up your harp, stroll through the city, O forgotten harlot. Make sweet melody, sing many a song, so you will be remembered.”
Take an instrument of music, go about the town, O loose woman who has gone out from the memory of man; make sweet melody with songs, so that you may come back to men's minds.
17 And at the end of seventy years, the LORD will restore Tyre. Then she will return to hire as a prostitute and sell herself to all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.
And it will be after the end of seventy years, that the Lord will have mercy on Tyre, and she will go back to her trade, acting as a loose woman with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.
18 Yet her profits and wages will be set apart to the LORD; they will not be stored or saved, for her profit will go to those who live before the LORD, for abundant food and fine clothing.
And her goods and her trade will be holy to the Lord: they will not be kept back or stored up; for her produce will be for those living in the Lord's land, to give them food for their needs, and fair clothing.
