Isaiah 23–25

An Oracle against Tyre

23An oracle ^eagainst Tyre: ^f

Wail, ships of Tarshish, ^g

for your haven has been destroyed.

Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus. ^hi

²Mourn, inhabitants of the coastland,

you merchants of Sidon; ^j

your agents have crossed the sea ^k

³on many waters.

Tyre’s revenue was the grain from Shihor—

the harvest of the Nile.

She was the merchant among the nations. ^l

⁴Be ashamed 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.”

⁵When the news reaches Egypt,

they will be in anguish over the news about Tyre. ^m

⁶Cross over to Tarshish;

wail, inhabitants of the coastland!

⁷Is this your jubilant city,

whose origin was in ancient times,

whose feet have taken her

to settle far away?

⁸Who planned this against Tyre,

the bestower of crowns,

whose traders are princes,

whose merchants are the honored ones of the earth?

⁹The Lord of Hosts planned it,

to desecrate all its glorious beauty,

to disgrace all the honored ones of the earth.

¹⁰Overflow ⁿyour land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish;

there is no longer anything to restrain you. ^o

¹¹He stretched out His hand over the sea; ^p

He made kingdoms tremble.

The Lord has commanded

that the Canaanite fortresses be destroyed.

¹²He said,

“You will not rejoice anymore,

ravished young woman, daughter of Sidon.

Get up and cross over to Cyprus ^q—

even there you will have no rest!”

¹³Look at the land of the Chaldeans—

a people who no longer exist.

Assyria destined it for desert creatures.

They set up their siege towers

and stripped its palaces.

They made it a ruin.

¹⁴Wail, ships of Tarshish,

because your fortress is destroyed!

¹⁵On that day Tyre will be forgotten for 70 years—the life span of one king. At the end of 70 years, what the song says about the prostitute will happen to Tyre:

¹⁶Pick up your lyre,

stroll through the city,

prostitute forgotten by men.

Play skillfully,

sing many a song,

and you will be thought of again.

¹⁷And at the end of the 70 years, ^rthe Lord will restore Tyre ^sand she will go back into business, prostituting herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. ¹⁸But her profits and wages will be dedicated to the Lord. They will not be stored or saved, for her profit will go to those who live in the Lord’s presence, to provide them with ample food and sacred clothing.

The Earth Judged

24Look, the Lord is stripping the earth bare

and making it desolate.

He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants:

²people and priest alike,

servant and master,

female servant and mistress,

buyer and seller,

lender and borrower,

creditor and debtor.

³The earth will be stripped completely bare

and will be totally plundered,

for the Lord has spoken this message. ^t

⁴The earth mourns and withers;

the world wastes away and withers;

the exalted people of the earth waste away.

⁵The earth is polluted by its inhabitants, ^u

for they have transgressed teachings,

overstepped decrees,

and broken the everlasting covenant. ^v

⁶Therefore a curse has consumed the earth, ^w

and its inhabitants have become guilty;

the earth’s inhabitants have been burned,

and only a few survive.

⁷The new wine mourns; ^x

the vine withers.

All the carousers now groan.

⁸The joyful tambourines ^yhave ceased.

The noise of the jubilant has stopped.

The joyful lyre has ceased.

⁹They no longer sing and drink wine;

beer is bitter to those who drink it.

¹⁰The city of chaos is shattered; ^z

every house is closed to entry. ^a

¹¹In the streets they cry ^bfor wine.

All joy grows dark;

earth’s rejoicing goes into exile.

¹²Only desolation remains in the city;

its gate has collapsed in ruins.

¹³For this is how it will be on earth

among the nations:

like a harvested olive tree,

like a gleaning after a grape harvest. ^c

¹⁴They raise their voices, they sing out;

they proclaim in the west

the majesty of the Lord.

¹⁵Therefore, in the east honor the Lord!

In the islands of the west

honor the name of Yahweh,

the God of Israel.

¹⁶From the ends of the earth we hear songs:

The Splendor of the Righteous One. ^d

But I said, “I waste away! I waste away! ^e

Woe is me.”

The treacherous act treacherously;

the treacherous deal very treacherously. ^f

¹⁷Panic, pit, and trap await you ^g

who dwell on the earth. ^h

¹⁸Whoever flees at the sound of panic

will fall into a pit,

and whoever escapes from the pit

will be caught in a trap.

For the windows are opened from heaven, ⁱ

and the foundations of the earth are shaken. ^j

¹⁹The earth is completely devastated;

the earth is split open;

the earth is violently shaken.

²⁰The earth staggers like a drunkard ^k

and sways like a hut.

Earth’s rebellion weighs it down,

and it falls, never to rise again.

²¹On that day ^lthe Lord will punish

the host of heaven above

and kings of the earth below.

²²They will be gathered together

like prisoners in a pit. ^m

They will be confined to a dungeon; ⁿ

after many days they will be punished.

²³The moon will be put to shame

and the sun disgraced,

because the Lord of Hosts will reign as king

on Mount Zion in Jerusalem,

and He will display His glory

in the presence of His elders. ^o

Salvation and Judgment on That Day

25Yahweh, You are my God; ^p

I will exalt You. I will praise Your name,

for You have accomplished wonders,

plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.

²For You have turned the city into a pile of rocks, ^q

a fortified city, into ruins;

the fortress of barbarians ^ris no longer a city;

it will never be rebuilt.

³Therefore, a strong people will honor You.

The cities of violent nations will fear You.

⁴For You have been a stronghold for the poor,

a stronghold for the needy ^sperson in his distress,

a refuge from the rain, a shade from the heat. ^t

When the breath of the violent

is like rain against a wall,

⁵like heat in a dry land,

You subdue the uproar of barbarians.

As ^uthe shade of a cloud cools the heat of the day,

so He silences the song of the violent.

⁶The Lord of Hosts will prepare a feast ^v

for all the peoples on this mountain ^wx—

a feast of aged wine, choice meat, ^yfinely aged wine.

⁷On this mountain

He will destroy the burial shroud,

the shroud over all the peoples,

the sheet covering all the nations; ^z

⁸He will destroy death forever. ^a

The Lord God will wipe away the tears

from every face ^b

and remove His people’s disgrace ^c

from the whole earth,

for the Lord has spoken.

⁹On that day it will be said,

“Look, this is our God;

we have waited for Him, and He has saved us.

This is the Lord; we have waited for Him.

Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.” ^d

¹⁰For the Lord’s power will rest on this mountain.

But Moab ^ewill be trampled in his place ^f

as straw is trampled in a dung pile.

¹¹He will spread out his arms in the middle of it,

as a swimmer spreads out his arms to swim.

His pride will be brought low,

along with the trickery of his hands. ^g

¹²The high-walled fortress will be brought down,

thrown to the ground, to the dust. ^h