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.
[I received] this message [from Yahweh] about Tyre [city]: You [sailors on] [APO] ships from Tarshish, weep, because [the harbor of] Tyre and all the houses [in the city] have been destroyed. The reports that you heard in Cyprus [island] about Tyre [are true].
2 Be silent, O dwellers of the coastland, you merchants of Sidon, whose traders have crossed the sea.
You people who live along the coast [near Tyre], and merchants of Sidon [city], mourn silently. Your sailors went across the seas [to many places like Tyre].
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.
They sailed across deep seas to buy grain in Egypt and [other] crops that are grown along the Nile [River]. Tyre became the city where people from [all] nations bought and sold goods.
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.”
But now you people in Sidon should be ashamed, because [you trusted in Tyre], which has been a strong fortress [on an island] in the sea. [Tyre is like a woman who is saying], “[Now it is as though] I have not given birth to [any] children, or raised [any] sons or daughters.”
5 When the report reaches Egypt, they will writhe in agony over the news of Tyre.
When [the people of] Egypt hear what has happened to Tyre, they will grieve very much.
6 Cross over to Tarshish; wail, O inhabitants of the coastland!
Sail to Tarshish [and tell them what happened]; weep, you people who live along the coast.
7 Is this your jubilant city, whose origin is from antiquity, whose feet have taken her to settle far away?
[The people in] the very old city [of Tyre] were [RHQ] previously joyful. Traders [PRS] from Tyre established colonies in many distant nations.
8 Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose traders are princes, whose merchants are renowned on the earth?
People from Tyre appointed kings [over other places]; their traders were wealthy; they were [as powerful and wealthy as] [MET] kings. [So], who [RHQ] caused the people of Tyre to experience this disaster?
9 The LORD of Hosts planned it, to defile all its glorious beauty, to disgrace all the renowned of the earth.
It was the Commander of the armies of angels who did it; he did it in order to cause [you people in] Tyre not to be proud any more, to humiliate you men who are honored all over the world.
10 Cultivate your land like the Nile, O Daughter of Tarshish; there is no longer a harbor.
You people of Tarshish, you must grow crops in your land [instead of trading]; spread out over your land like [SIM] the Nile [River] spreads over the land [of Egypt] when it floods, because there is no harbor [in Tyre for your ships] now.
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.
[It is as though] Yahweh stretched out his hand over the sea and shook the kingdoms of the earth. He commanded that in Phoenicia/Canaan all its fortresses must be destroyed.
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.”
He said to the people of Sidon, “You will never rejoice again, because you will be crushed; even if you flee to Cyprus [island], you will not escape destruction.”
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.
Think about what happened in Babylonia: the people who were in that land have disappeared. [The armies of] Assyria have caused that land to become a place where wild animals from the desert live. The Assyrians built dirt ramps to the top of the walls [of the city of Babylon]; [then they entered the city and] tore down the palaces and caused the city to become [a heap of] rubble.
14 Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for your harbor has been destroyed!
[So] wail, you [sailors on the] ships of Tarshish, because the harbor [in Tyre where your ships stop] 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:
For seventy years, which is as long as kings usually live, people will forget about Tyre. [But then it will be rebuilt]. What will happen there will be like what happened to a prostitute in this song:
16 “Take up your harp, stroll through the city, O forgotten harlot. Make sweet melody, sing many a song, so you will be remembered.”
“You harlot, whom people had forgotten, play your harp well, and sing many songs, in order that people will remember you again.”
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.
[It is true that] after seventy years Yahweh will restore Tyre. Their merchants will again earn a lot of money by buying things from and selling things to many [other] nations [HYP].
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.
[But] their profits will be given to Yahweh. [The merchants] will not hoard their money; instead, they will give it to Yahweh’s priests in order that they [can] buy food and nice clothes.
