Isaiah 23
1 [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].
The burden of Tyre. Howl, you ships of Tarshish! For it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in. From the land of Kittim it is revealed to them.
2 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].
Be still, you inhabitants of the coast, you whom the merchants of Sidon that pass over the sea have replenished.
3 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.
On great waters, the seed of the Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, was her revenue. She was the market of nations.
4 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.”
Be ashamed, Sidon; for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying, “I have not travailed, nor given birth, neither have I nourished young men, nor brought up virgins.”
5 When [the people of] Egypt hear what has happened to Tyre, they will grieve very much.
When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish at the report of Tyre.
6 Sail to Tarshish [and tell them what happened]; weep, you people who live along the coast.
Pass over to Tarshish! Wail, you inhabitants of the coast!
7 [The people in] the very old city [of Tyre] were [RHQ] previously joyful. Traders [PRS] from Tyre established colonies in many distant nations.
Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days, whose feet carried her far away to travel?
8 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?
Who has planned this against Tyre, the giver of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are the honorable of the earth?
9 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.
The LORD of Hosts has planned it, to stain the pride of all glory, to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth.
10 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.
Pass through your land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish. There is no restraint any more.
11 [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.
He has stretched out his hand over the sea. He has shaken the kingdoms. The LORD has ordered the destruction of Canaan’s strongholds.
12 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.”
He said, “You shall rejoice no more, you oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon. Arise, pass over to Kittim. Even there you will have no rest.”
13 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.
Behold, the land of the Kasdim. This people didn’t exist. The Assyrians founded it for those who dwell in the wilderness. They set up their towers. They overthrew its palaces. They made it a ruin.
14 [So] wail, you [sailors on the] ships of Tarshish, because the harbor [in Tyre where your ships stop] is destroyed!
Howl, you ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold is laid waste!
15 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:
It will come to pass in that day that Tyre will be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king. After the end of seventy years it will be to Tyre like in the song of the prostitute.
16 “You harlot, whom people had forgotten, play your harp well, and sing many songs, in order that people will remember you again.”
Take a harp; go about the city, you prostitute that has been forgotten. Make sweet melody. Sing many songs, that you may be remembered.
17 [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].
It will happen after the end of seventy years that the LORD will visit Tyre. She will return to her wages, and will play the prostitute with all the kingdoms of the world on the surface of the earth.
18 [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.
Her merchandise and her wages will be holiness to the LORD. It will not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise will be for those who dwell before the LORD, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.
