Isaiah 23:1-9 ▼

1 The [mournful, inspired] oracle (a burden to be carried) concerning Tyre: Wail, O ships of Tarshish, For Tyre is destroyed, without house, without harbor; It is reported to them from the land of Cyprus (Kittim).

2 Be silent, you inhabitants of the coastland, You merchants of Sidon; Your messengers crossed the sea

3 And they were on great waters. The grain of the Shihor, the harvest of the Nile River, was Tyre’s revenue; And she was the market of nations.

4 Be ashamed, O Sidon [mother-city of Tyre, now like a widow bereaved of her children]; For the sea speaks, the stronghold of the sea, saying, “I have neither labored nor given birth [to children]; I have neither brought up young men nor reared virgins.”

5 When the report reaches Egypt, They will be in agony at the report about Tyre.

6 Cross over to Tarshish [to seek safety as exiles]; Wail, O inhabitants of the coastland [of Tyre].

7 Is this your jubilant city, Whose origin dates back to antiquity, Whose feet used to carry her [far away] 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 bring into contempt and humiliation all the honored of the earth.