Isaiah 23
1 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.
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, you inhabitants of the island, Trader of Sidon, passing the sea, they filled you.
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 And the seed of Sihor [is] in many waters, Her increase [is] the harvest of the brook, And she is a market of nations.
Who get in the seed of Shihor, whose wealth is the trade of the nations.
4 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.”
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 As they are pained [at] the report of Egypt, So [at] the report of Tyre.
When the news comes to Egypt they will be bitterly pained at the fate of Tyre.
6 Pass over to Tarshish, howl, you inhabitants of the island,
Go over to Tarshish; give cries of sorrow, O men of the sea-land.
7 Is this your exulting one? Her antiquity [is] from the days of old, Her own feet carry her far off to sojourn.
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 has counseled this against Tyre, The crowning one, whose traders [are] princes, Her merchants—the honored of earth?
By whom was this purposed against Tyre, the crowning town, whose traders are chiefs, whose business men are honoured in the land?
9 YHWH of Hosts has counseled it, To defile the excellence of all beauty, To make light all the honored of 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 Pass through your land as a brook, Daughter of Tarshish, There is no longer a girdle.
Let your land be worked with the plough, O daughter of Tarshish; there is no longer any harbour.
11 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.
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 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.”
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 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 Tarshish, For your strength has been destroyed.
Let a cry of sorrow go up, O ships of Tarshish: because your strong place is made waste.
15 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.
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 a harp, go around the city, O forgotten harlot, play well, Multiply song that you may 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 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.
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 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!
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.
