Isaiah 23:1–18

Proclamation Against Tyre

23The ^aburden ¹against Tyre.

Wail, you ships of Tarshish!

For it is laid waste,

So that there is no house, no harbor;

From the land of ²Cyprus it is revealed to them.

²Be still, you inhabitants of the coastland,

You merchants of Sidon,

³Whom those who cross the sea have filled.

³And on great waters the grain of Shihor,

The harvest of ⁴the River, is her revenue;

And ^bshe is a marketplace for the nations.

⁴Be ashamed, O Sidon;

For the sea has spoken,

The strength of the sea, saying,

“I do not labor, nor bring forth children;

Neither do I rear young men,

Nor bring up virgins.”

^5cWhen the report reaches Egypt,

They also will be in agony at the report of Tyre.

⁶Cross over to Tarshish;

Wail, you inhabitants of the coastland!

⁷Is this your ^djoyous city,

Whose antiquity is from ancient days,

Whose feet carried her far off to dwell?

⁸Who has taken this counsel against Tyre, ^ethe crowning city,

Whose merchants are princes,

Whose traders are the honorable of the earth?

⁹The Lord of hosts has ^fpurposed it,

To ⁵bring to dishonor the ^gpride of all glory,

To bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth.

¹⁰Overflow through your land like ⁶the River,

O daughter of Tarshish;

There is no more ⁷strength.

¹¹He stretched out His hand over the sea,

He shook the kingdoms;

The Lord has given a commandment ^hagainst Canaan

To destroy its strongholds.

¹²And He said, “You will rejoice no more,

O you oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon.

Arise, ⁱcross over to Cyprus;

There also you will have no rest.”

¹³Behold, the land of the ^jChaldeans,

This people which was not;

Assyria founded it for ^kwild beasts of the desert.

They set up its towers,

They raised up its palaces,

And brought it to ruin.

^14lWail, you ships of Tarshish!

For your strength is laid waste.

¹⁵Now it shall come to pass in that day that Tyre will be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot:

¹⁶“Take a harp, go about the city,

You forgotten harlot;

Make sweet melody, sing many songs,

That you may be remembered.”

¹⁷And it shall be, at the end of seventy years, that the Lord will deal with Tyre. She will return to her hire, and ^mcommit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. ¹⁸Her gain and her pay ⁿwill be set apart for the Lord; it will not be treasured nor laid up, for her gain will be for those who dwell before the Lord, to eat sufficiently, and for ⁸fine clothing.