Isaiah 23:1-14 ▼

1 The oracle concerning Tyre. Wail, O ships of Tarshish, For Tyre is destroyed, without house or harbor; It is reported to them from the land of Cyprus.

2 Be silent, you inhabitants of the coastland, You merchants of Sidon; Your messengers crossed 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 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 anguish at the report of Tyre.

6 Pass over to Tarshish; Wail, O inhabitants of the coastland.

7 Is this your jubilant city, Whose origin is from antiquity, Whose feet used to carry her to colonize distant places?

8 Who has planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, Whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth?

9 The LORD of hosts has planned it, to defile the pride of all beauty, To despise all the honored of the earth.

10 Overflow your land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish, There is no more restraint.

11 He has stretched His hand out over the sea, He has made the kingdoms tremble; The LORD has given a command concerning Canaan to demolish its strongholds.

12 He has said, “You shall exult no more, O crushed virgin daughter of Sidon. Arise, pass over to Cyprus; even there you will find no rest.”

13 Behold, the land of the Chaldeans—this is the people which was not; Assyria appointed it for desert creatures—they erected their siege towers, they stripped its palaces, they made it a ruin.

14 Wail, O ships of Tarshish, For your stronghold is destroyed.