Isaiah 23

Chapter 23

The Fall of Tyre

¹The ¹oracle concerning ^aTyre.

Wail, O ^bships of ^cTarshish,

For Tyre is destroyed, without house or ^2dharbor;

It is reported to them from the land of ^3eCyprus.

^2aBe silent, you inhabitants of the coastland,

You merchants of Sidon;

¹Your messengers crossed the sea

³And were on many waters.

^aThe grain of the ^1bNile, the harvest of the River was her revenue;

And she was the ^cmarket of nations.

⁴Be ashamed, O ^aSidon;

For the sea speaks, the stronghold of the sea, saying,

“I have neither travailed nor given birth,

I have neither brought up young men nor reared virgins.”

⁵When the report reaches Egypt,

They will be in ^aanguish at the report of Tyre.

⁶Pass over to ^aTarshish;

Wail, O inhabitants of the coastland.

⁷Is this your ^ajubilant city,

Whose origin is from antiquity,

Whose feet used to carry her to ¹colonize distant places?

⁸Who has planned this against Tyre, ^athe bestower of crowns,

Whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth?

^9aThe Lord of hosts has planned it, to ^bdefile the pride of all beauty,

To despise all the ^chonored of the earth.

¹⁰¹Overflow your land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish,

There is no more ²restraint.

¹¹He has ^astretched His hand out ^bover the sea,

He has ^cmade the kingdoms tremble;

The Lord has given a command concerning Canaan to ^ddemolish its strongholds.

¹²He has said, “^aYou shall exult no more, O crushed virgin daughter of Sidon.

Arise, pass over to ^1bCyprus; even there you will find no rest.”

¹³Behold, the land of the Chaldeans—this is the people which was not; ^aAssyria appointed it for ^bdesert creatures—they erected their siege towers, they stripped its palaces, ^cthey made it a ruin.

¹⁴Wail, O ^aships of Tarshish,

For your stronghold is destroyed.

¹⁵Now in that day Tyre will be forgotten for ^aseventy years like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot:

¹⁶Take your harp, walk about the city,

O forgotten harlot;

Pluck the strings skillfully, sing many songs,

That you may be remembered.

¹⁷It will come about at ^athe end of seventy years that the Lord will visit Tyre. Then she will go back to her harlot’s wages and will ^bplay the harlot with all the kingdoms ¹on the face of the earth.

¹⁸Her ^again and her harlot’s wages will be ^bset apart to the Lord; it will not be stored up or hoarded, but her gain will become sufficient food and choice attire for those who dwell in the presence of the Lord.