Chapter 23
Isaiah
Verse 1The oracle concerning Tyre.Wail, O ships of Tarshish,for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor!From the land of Cyprusit is revealed to them.Verse 2Be still, O inhabitants of the coast;the merchants of Sidon, who cross the sea, have filled you.Verse 3And on many watersyour revenue was the grain of Shihor,the harvest of the Nile;you were the merchant of the nations.Verse 4Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken,the stronghold of the sea, saying:“I have neither labored nor given birth,I have neither reared young mennor brought up young women.”Verse 5When the report comes to Egypt,they will be in anguish over the report about Tyre.Verse 6Cross over to Tarshish;wail, O inhabitants of the coast!Verse 7Is this your exultant citywhose origin is from days of old,whose feet carried herto settle far away?Verse 8Who has purposed thisagainst Tyre, the bestower of crowns,whose merchants were princes,whose traders were the honored of the earth?Verse 9The LORD of hosts has purposed it,to defile the pompous pride of all glory,to dishonor all the honored of the earth.Verse 10Cross over your land like the Nile,O daughter of Tarshish;there is no restraint anymore.Verse 11He has stretched out his hand over the sea;he has shaken the kingdoms;the LORD has given command concerning Canaanto destroy its strongholds.Verse 12And he said:“You will no more exult,O oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon;arise, cross over to Cyprus,even there you will have no rest.”
Verse 13Behold the land of the Chaldeans! This is the people that was not; Assyria destined it for wild beasts. They erected their siege towers, they stripped her palaces bare, they made her a ruin.
Verse 14Wail, O ships of Tarshish,for your stronghold is laid waste.
Verse 15In that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:
Verse 16“Take a harp;go about the city,O forgotten prostitute!Make sweet melody;sing many songs,that you may be remembered.”
Verse 17At the end of seventy years, the LORD will visit Tyre, and she will return to her wages and will prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. Verse 18Her merchandise and her wages will be holy to the LORD. It will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who dwell before the LORD.
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