< 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.
2 Be silent, you inhabitants of the island, Trader of Sidon, passing the sea, they filled you.
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.
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.”
5 As they are pained [at] the report of Egypt, So [at] the report of Tyre.
6 Pass over to Tarshish, howl, you inhabitants of the island,
7 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 counseled this against Tyre, The crowning one, whose traders [are] princes, Her merchants—the honored of earth?
9 YHWH of Hosts has counseled it, To defile the excellence of all beauty, To make light all the honored of earth.
10 Pass through your land as a brook, Daughter of Tarshish, There is no longer a girdle.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
16 Take a harp, go around the city, O forgotten harlot, play well, Multiply song that you may be remembered.
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.
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!
