Esias 23

1 THE WORD CONCERNING TYRE. Howl, you ships of Carthage; for she has perished, and [men] no longer arrive from the land of the Citians: she is led captive.

The Burden of Tyre. Howl, you ships of Tarshish, For it has been destroyed, Without house, without entrance, From the land of Chittim it was revealed to them.

2 To whom are the dwellers in the island become like, the merchants of Phoenice, passing over the sea

Be silent, you inhabitants of the island, Trader of Sidon, passing the sea, they filled you.

3 in great waters, a generation of merchants? as when the harvest is gathered in, [so are] these traders with the nations.

And the seed of Sihor [is] in many waters, Her increase [is] the harvest of the brook, And she is a market of nations.

4 Be ashamed, O Sidon: the sea has said, yes, the strength of the sea has said, I have not travailed, nor brought forth, nor have I brought up young men, nor reared virgins.

Be ashamed, O Sidon; for the sea spoke, The strength of the sea, saying, “I have not been pained, nor have I brought forth, Nor have I nourished young men, [nor] brought up virgins.”

5 Moreover when it shall be heard in Egypt, sorrow shall seize them for Tyre.

As they are pained [at] the report of Egypt, So [at] the report of Tyre.

6 Depart you to Carthage; howl, you that dwell in this island.

Pass over to Tarshish, howl, you inhabitants of the island,

7 Was not this your pride from the beginning, before she was given up?

Is this your exulting one? Her antiquity [is] from the days of old, Her own feet carry her far off to sojourn.

8 Who has devised this counsel against Tyre? Is she inferior? or has she no strength? her merchants were the glorious princes of the earth.

Who has counseled this against Tyre, The crowning one, whose traders [are] princes, Her merchants—the honored of earth?

9 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.

YHWH of Hosts has counseled it, To defile the excellence of all beauty, To make light all the honored of earth.

10 Till your land; for ships no more come out of Carthage.

Pass through your land as a brook, Daughter of Tarshish, There is no longer a girdle.

11 And your hand prevails no more by sea, which troubled kings: the Lord of hosts has given a command concerning Chanaan, to destroy the strength thereof.

He has stretched out His hand over the sea, He has caused kingdoms to tremble, YHWH has charged concerning the merchant one, To destroy her strong places.

12 And [men] shall say, You shall no longer at all continue to insult and injure the daughter of Sidon: and if you depart to the Citians, neither there shall you have rest.

And He says, “You do not add to exult anymore, O oppressed one, virgin daughter of Sidon, To Chittim arise, pass over, Even there—there is no rest for you.”

13 And [if you depart] to the land of the Chaldeans, this also is laid waste by the Assyrians, for her wall is fallen.

Behold, the land of the Chaldeans—this people was not, Asshur founded it for desert-dwellers, They raised its watchtowers, They lifted up her palaces—He has appointed her for a ruin!

14 Howl, you ships of Carthage: for your strong hold is destroyed.

Howl, you ships of Tarshish, For your strength has been destroyed.

15 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.

And it has come to pass in that day, That Tyre is forgotten seventy years, According to the days of one king. At the end of seventy years there is to Tyre as the song of the harlot.

16 Take a harp, go about, O city, you harlot that have been forgotten; play well on the harp, sing many [songs], that you may be remembered.

Take a harp, go around the city, O forgotten harlot, play well, Multiply song that you may be remembered.

17 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.

And it has come to pass, At the end of seventy years YHWH inspects Tyre, And she has returned to her wage, And she committed fornication With all kingdoms of the earth on the face of the ground.

18 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.

And her merchandise and her wage have been holy to YHWH, Not treasured up nor stored, For her merchandise is to those sitting before YHWH, To eat to satiety, and for a lasting covering!