Chapter 23

The Fall of Tyre

1 The 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.

2 aBe silent, you inhabitants of the coastland,

You merchants of Sidon;

1Your messengers crossed the sea

3 And were on many waters.

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

And she was the cmarket of nations.

4 Be 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.”

5 When the report reaches Egypt,

They will be in aanguish at the report of Tyre.

6 Pass over to aTarshish;

Wail, O inhabitants of the coastland.

7 Is this your ajubilant city,

Whose origin is from antiquity,

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

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

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

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

To despise all the chonored of the earth.

10 1Overflow your land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish,

There is no more 2restraint.

11 He 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.

12 He 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.”

13 Behold, 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.

14 Wail, O aships of Tarshish,

For your stronghold is destroyed.

15 Now 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:

16 Take your harp, walk about the city,

O forgotten harlot;

Pluck the strings skillfully, sing many songs,

That you may be remembered.

17 It 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.

18 Her 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.