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 CONCERNING TYRE. Howl, ye ships of Carthage; for she has perished, and [men] no longer arrive from the land of the Citians: she is led captive.
2 Be silent, O dwellers of the coastland, you merchants of Sidon, whose traders have crossed the sea.
To whom are the dwellers in the island become like, the merchants of Phoenice, passing over the sea
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.
in great waters, a generation of merchants? as when the harvest is gathered in, [so are] these traders with 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 ashamed, O Sidon: the sea has said, yea, the strength of the sea has said, I have not travailed, nor brought forth, nor have I brought up young men, nor reared virgins.
5 When the report reaches Egypt, they will writhe in agony over the news of Tyre.
Moreover when it shall be heard in Egypt, sorrow shall seize them for Tyre.
6 Cross over to Tarshish; wail, O inhabitants of the coastland!
Depart ye to Carthage; howl, ye that dwell in this island.
7 Is this your jubilant city, whose origin is from antiquity, whose feet have taken her to settle far away?
Was not this your pride from the beginning, before she was given up?
8 Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose traders are princes, whose merchants are renowned on the earth?
Who has devised this counsel against Tyre? Is she inferior? or has she no strength? her merchants were the glorious princes of the earth.
9 The LORD of Hosts planned it, to defile all its glorious beauty, to disgrace all the renowned of the earth.
The Lord of hosts has purposed to bring down all the pride of the glorious ones, and to disgrace every glorious thing on the earth.
10 Cultivate your land like the Nile, O Daughter of Tarshish; there is no longer a harbor.
Till thy land; for ships no more come out of Carthage.
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.
And thy hand prevails no more by sea, which troubled kings: the Lord of hosts has given a command concerning Chanaan, to destroy the strength thereof.
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 [men] shall say, Ye shall no longer at all continue to insult and injure the daughter of Sidon: and if thou depart to the Citians, neither there shalt thou have 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.
And [if thou depart] to the land of the Chaldeans, this also is laid waste by the Assyrians, for her wall is fallen.
14 Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for your harbor has been destroyed!
Howl, ye ships of Carthage: for your strong hold is destroyed.
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 shall come to pass in that day, [that] Tyre shall be left seventy years, as the time of a king, as the time of a man: and it shall come to pass after seventy years, [that] Tyre shall be as the song of a harlot.
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 a harp, go about, O city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; play well on the harp, sing many [songs], that thou mayest be remembered.
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 shall come to pass after the seventy years, [that] God will visit Tyre, and she shall be again restored to her primitive state, and she shall be a mart for 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 trade and her gain shall be holiness to the Lord: it shall not be gathered for them, but for those that dwell before the Lord, [even] all her trade, to eat and drink and be filled, and for a covenant [and] a memorial before the Lord.
