Isaiah 23:1-15 ▼

1 A message concerning Tyre. |Wail, you ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is destroyed and is without house or harbor! From the land of Cyprus it was revealed to them.

2 |Be silent, you inhabitants of the coast, you merchants of Sidon, whose messengers crossed over the sea,

3 and were on mighty waters. Her revenue was the grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile; and she became the marketplace of nations.

4 Be ashamed, Sidon, because the sea has spoken, the fortress of the sea: I have neither been in labor nor given birth, I have neither reared young men nor brought up young women.|

5 When the news reaches Egypt, they will be in anguish at the report about Tyre.

6 |You who are crossing over to Tarshish— Wail, you inhabitants of the coast!

7 Is this your exciting city, that was founded long ago, whose feet carried her to settle in far-off lands?

8 Who has planned this against Tyre, that bestower of crowns, whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the most renowned on earth?

9 The LORD of the Heavenly Armies has planned it— to neutralize all the hubris of grandeur, to discredit all the renowned men of earth.

10 |Cultivate your land like the Nile, you daughter of Tarshish; for there is no longer a harbor.

11 He has stretched out his hand over the sea; he has made kingdoms tremble. The LORD has issued orders concerning Canaan to destroy its strongholds.

12 And he said: 'You will revel no longer, you virgin daughter of Sidon, now crushed. Get up, cross over to Cyprus— but even there you will find no rest.'|

13 |Look at the land of the Chaldeans! This is a people that no longer exist; Assyria destined her for desert creatures. They raised up her siege towers, they stripped her fortresses bare and turned her into a ruin.

14 Wail, you ships of Tarshish, because your stronghold is destroyed!|

15 It will happen at that time that Tyre will be forgotten for 70 years, the span of a king's life. Then, at the end of those 70 years, it will turn out for Tyre as in the prostitute's song: