Isaiah 23:1-14

Complete Jewish Bible

Howl, you “Tarshish” ships,
because the harbor is destroyed!
On returning from Kittim,
they discover they cannot enter it.
² Silence, you who live on the coast,
you who have been enriched
by the merchants of Tzidon crossing the sea.
³ By the great water the grain of Shichor,
the harvest of the Nile, brought you profits.
She was marketplace for the nations.
⁴ Shame, Tzidon, for the sea speaks;
the fortress of the sea says,
“I no longer have labor pains or bear children,
yet I have raised neither boys nor girls.”
⁵ When the report reaches Egypt,
they will be in anguish at the fate of Tzor.

⁶ Cross over to Tarshish!
Howl, you who live on the coast!
⁷ Is this your boisterous city,
whose feet long ago in antiquity
carried her off to found distant colonies?
⁸ Who planned this against Tzor,
the city that once bestowed crowns,
whose merchants are princes,
whose traders are honored throughout the earth?
⁹ Adonai-Tzva’ot planned it
to break the pride of all the arrogant,
to humiliate all those who are honored
everywhere on earth.
¹⁰ People of Tarshish!
Nothing restricts you now.
You can flow freely over your land
just like the Nile River.

¹¹ He has stretched out his hand against the sea,
he has shaken kingdoms;
Adonai has ordered that Kena‘an’s
fortresses be destroyed.
¹² He has said, “Exult no more,
oppressed virgin daughter of Tzidon.
Arise, cross to Kittim;
even there you will find no rest.”

¹³ Look at the land of the Kasdim!
This was the people who did not exist
when Ashur destined it for desert creatures.
They erected their siege towers
and tore down her palaces,
so that it has been made a ruin.
¹⁴ Howl, you “Tarshish” ships,
because your fortress is destroyed.