Isaiah 23:2-18 ▼

2 Be silent, O dwellers of the coastland, you merchants of Sidon (hunting), whose traders have crossed the sea [whom the seafarers have enriched].

3 On the great waters came the grain of Shihor (dark); the harvest of the Nile was the revenue of Tyre; she was the merchant of the nations.

4 Be ashamed, O Sidon (hunting), the stronghold of the sea, for the sea has spoken: “I have not been in labor or given birth. I have not raised young men or brought up young women.”

5 When the report reaches Egypt (land of bondage), they will writhe in agony over the news of Tyre (a rock).

6 Cross over to Tarshish (yellow jasper); wail, O inhabitants of the coastland!

7 Is this your⁺ jubilant city, whose origin is from antiquity, whose feet have taken her to settle far away?

8 Who planned this against Tyre (a rock), the bestower of crowns, whose traders are princes, whose merchants (lowland) are renowned on the earth?

9 The LORD {YHWH} of Hosts planned it, to defile all its glorious beauty, to disgrace all the renowned of the earth.

10 Cultivate [Overflow] your land like the Nile, O Daughter of Tarshish (yellow jasper); there is no longer a harbor.

11 The LORD has stretched out His hand over the sea; He has made kingdoms tremble. He {YHWH} has given a command that the strongholds of Canaan (lowland) be destroyed.

12 He said, “You shall rejoice no more, O oppressed Virgin Daughter of Sidon (hunting). Get up and cross over to Cyprus (bruisers)—even there you will find no rest.”

13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans (the Babylonians) a people now of no account. The Assyrians (a step) destined it for the desert creatures; they set up their siege towers and stripped its palaces. They brought it to ruin.

14 Wail, O ships of Tarshish (yellow jasper), for your⁺ harbor has been destroyed!

15 At that time Tyre (a rock) will be forgotten for seventy years—the span of a king’s life. But at the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot:

16 “Take up your harp, stroll through the city, O forgotten harlot. Make sweet melody, sing many a song, so you will be remembered.”

17 And at the end of seventy years, the LORD {YHWH} will restore Tyre (a rock). Then she will return to hire as a prostitute and sell herself to all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.

18 Yet her profits and wages will be set apart to the LORD {YHWH}; they will not be stored or saved, for her profit will go to those who live before the LORD, for abundant food and fine clothing.