Isaiah 23

An Oracle concerning Tyre

²³The oracle concerning Tyre.

Wail, O ships of Tarshish,

for your fortress is destroyed.^z

When they came in from Cyprus

they learned of it.^*

²Be still, O inhabitants of the coast,

O merchants of Sidon;

your messengers crossed over the sea^a*

³and were on the mighty waters;

your revenue^b was the grain of Shihor,

the harvest of the Nile;

you were the merchant of the nations.^*

⁴Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken,

the fortress of the sea, saying:

“I have neither labored nor given birth;

I have neither reared young men

nor brought up young women.”^*

⁵When the report comes to Egypt,

they will be in anguish over the report about Tyre.

⁶Cross over to Tarshish—

wail, O inhabitants of the coast!

⁷Is this your exultant city

whose origin is from days of old,

whose feet carried her

to settle far away?^*

⁸Who has planned this

against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,

whose merchants were princes,

whose traders were the honored of the earth?

⁹The Lord of hosts has planned it—

to defile the pride of all glory,

to shame all the honored of the earth.^*

¹⁰Cross over to your own land,

O ships of^c Tarshish;

this is a harbor^d no more.

¹¹He has stretched out his hand over the sea;

he has shaken the kingdoms;

the Lord has given command concerning Canaan,

to destroy its fortresses.^*

¹²He said:

“You will exult no longer,

O oppressed virgin daughter Sidon;

rise, cross over to Cyprus—

even there you will have no rest.”^*

¹³Look at the land of the Chaldeans! This is the people; it was not Assyria. They destined it for wild animals.^e They erected their siege towers; they tore down her palaces; they made her a ruin.^*

¹⁴Wail, O ships of Tarshish,

for your fortress is destroyed.^*

¹⁵From that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the lifetime of one king. At the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song about the prostitute:^*

¹⁶Take a harp;

go about the city,

you forgotten prostitute!

Make sweet melody;

sing many songs,

that you may be remembered.

¹⁷At the end of seventy years, the Lord will visit Tyre, and she will return to her trade and will prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.^{* 18}Her merchandise and her wages will be dedicated to the Lord; her profits^f will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who live in the presence of the Lord.^*