An Oracle Concerning Tyre
23 The oracle of Tyre.
Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for Tyre is laid waste
so that there is no house or harbor;
from the land of Cyprus
it is reported to them.
2 Be still, you inhabitants of the coastland,
you merchants of Sidon;
your messengers passed over the sea,
3 and were on many waters;
the grain of the Nile,
the harvest of the River was her revenue;
and she was the market of nations.
4 Be ashamed, O Sidon; for the sea has spoken,
even the stronghold of the sea, saying,
“I have not travailed nor brought forth children;
neither have I brought up young men nor raised virgins.”
5 When the report reaches Egypt,
they shall be sorely pained at the report of Tyre.
6 Pass over to Tarshish;
wail, O inhabitants of the coastland.
7 Is this your joyous city,
whose origin is from ancient days,
whose feet used to carry her
to sojourn in distant locations?
8 Who has planned this against Tyre,
the crowning city,
whose merchants are princes,
whose traffickers are the honorable of the earth?
9 The Lord of Hosts has purposed it,
to stain the pride of all glory
and to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth.
10 Pass through your land as the Nile,
O daughter of Tarshish;
there is no more restraint.
11 He stretched out His hand over the sea,
He shook the kingdoms;
the Lord has given a command against the merchant city,
to destroy its strongholds.
12 He said: You shall rejoice no more,
O oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon.
Arise, pass over to Cyprus;
there also you shall have no rest.
13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans;
this was a people who was not;
Assyria founded it
for those who dwell in the wilderness.
They set up their siege towers,
they stripped its palaces,
and brought it to ruin.
14 Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for your stronghold is laid waste.
15 In that day Tyre shall be forgotten for seventy years, according to the days of one king. After the end of seventy years Tyre shall sing as a harlot:
16 Take your harp, go about the city,
O forgotten harlot;
make sweet melody, sing many songs,
that you may be remembered.
17 At the end of seventy years, the Lord will punish Tyre. Then she shall turn to her harlot’s wages and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. 18 Her merchandise and her harlot’s wages shall be set apart to the Lord. It shall not be treasured nor stored up, for her merchandise shall be for those who dwell before the Lord, to eat sufficiently, and for choice clothing.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 23:3
