Isaiah Chapter 23 - Judgment on Tyre and Sidon
A prophecy against the ancient world's great merchant city.
Following the oracle against Jerusalem in Isaiah 22, this chapter turns to Tyre, the seafaring trade hub whose ships from Tarshish are told to howl because their harbor has been laid waste.
The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish, for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in. It is revealed to them from the land of Kittim.
Be still, ye inhabitants of the coast, thou whom the merchants of Sidon, who pass over the sea, have replenished.
And on great waters the seed of the Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, was her revenue, and she was the mart of nations.
Be thou ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying, I have not travailed, nor brought forth, neither have I nourished young men, nor brought up virgins.
When the report comes to Egypt, they shall be greatly pained at the report of Tyre.
Pass ye over to Tarshish. Wail, ye inhabitants of the coast.
Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days, whose feet carried her afar off to sojourn?
Who has purposed this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants are rulers, whose traders are the honored of the earth?
Jehovah of hosts has purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth.
Pass through thy land as the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish, there is no restraint any more.
He has stretched out his hand over the sea. He has shaken the kingdoms. Jehovah has given commandment concerning Canaan, to destroy the strongholds of it.
And he said, Thou shall no more rejoice, O thou oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon. Arise, pass over to Kittim, even there shall thou have no rest.
Behold, the land of the Chaldeans. This people once was not. The Assyrian founded it for those who dwell in the wilderness. They set up their towers. They raised up the palaces of it. Then they made it a ruin.
Howl, ye ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold is laid waste.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king. After the end of seventy years it shall be to Tyre as in the song of the harlot:
Take a harp, go about the city, thou harlot who has been forgotten. Make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou may be remembered.
And it came to pass after the end of seventy years, that Jehovah examined Tyre, and she has repented of her gift, that she play the harlot with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.
And her merchandise and her pay shall be holiness to Jehovah. It shall not be treasured nor laid up, for her merchandise shall be for those who dwell before Jehovah, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.