Isaiah 23
New American Standard Bible
The Fall of Tyre
23 The pronouncement concerning (A)Tyre:
Wail, you (B)ships of (C)Tarshish,
For Tyre is destroyed, without house or [a](D)harbor;
It is reported to them from the land of [b](E)Cyprus.
2 (F)Be silent, you inhabitants of the coastland,
You merchants of Sidon;
[c]Your messengers crossed the sea
3 And were on many waters.
(G)The grain of the [d](H)Nile, the harvest of the River was her revenue;
And she was the (I)market of nations.
4 Be ashamed, (J)Sidon,
For the sea speaks, the stronghold of the sea, saying,
“I have neither been in labor nor given birth,
I have neither brought up young men nor raised virgins.”
5 When the report reaches Egypt,
They will be in (K)anguish over the report of Tyre.
6 Pass over to (L)Tarshish;
Wail, you inhabitants of the coastland.
7 Is this your (M)jubilant city,
Whose origin is from antiquity,
Whose feet used to bring her to [e]colonize distant places?
8 Who has planned this against Tyre, (N)the bestower of crowns,
Whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth?
9 (O)The Lord of armies has planned it, to (P)defile the pride of all beauty,
To despise all the (Q)honored of the earth.
10 [f]Overflow your land like the Nile, you daughter of Tarshish,
There is no more [g]restraint.
11 He has (R)stretched His hand out (S)over the sea,
He has (T)made the kingdoms tremble;
The Lord has given a command concerning Canaan to (U)demolish its strongholds.
12 He has said, “(V)You shall not be jubilant anymore, you crushed virgin daughter of Sidon.
Arise, pass over to [h](W)Cyprus; even there you will find no rest.”
13 Behold, the land of the Chaldeans—this is the people that did not exist; (X)Assyria allocated it for (Y)desert creatures—they erected their siege towers, they stripped its palaces, (Z)they made it a ruin.
14 Wail, you (AA)ships of Tarshish,
For your stronghold is destroyed.
15 Now on that day Tyre will be forgotten for (AB)seventy years like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:
16 Take your harp, wander around the city,
You forgotten prostitute;
Pluck the strings skillfully, sing many songs,
That you may be remembered.
17 It will come about at (AC)the end of seventy years that the Lord will visit Tyre. Then she will go back to her prostitute’s wages and (AD)commit prostitution with all the kingdoms [i]on the face of the earth. 18 Her (AE)profit and her prostitute’s wages will be (AF)sacred to the Lord; it will not be stored up or hoarded, but her profit will become sufficient food and magnificent attire for those who dwell in the presence of the Lord.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 23:1 Lit entering
- Isaiah 23:1 Heb Kittim
- Isaiah 23:2 As in DSS; MT Who passed over the sea, they replenished you
- Isaiah 23:3 Heb Shihor
- Isaiah 23:7 Lit sojourn afar off
- Isaiah 23:10 Lit Pass over
- Isaiah 23:10 Perhaps girdle or shipyard
- Isaiah 23:12 Heb Kittim
- Isaiah 23:17 Lit of the earth on the face of the land
Yeshayah 23
Orthodox Jewish Bible
23 The massa (burden) of Tzor. Howl, ye oniyyot (ships) of Tarshish; for it is destroyed, so that there is no bais, no entering in; from the Eretz Kittim [Land of Cyprus] niglah (it is revealed) to them.
2 Be still, ye inhabitants of the ee (isle, island); thou whom the sokher (merchant) of Tzidon, that pass over the yam, have enriched.
3 And by mayim rabbim, the zera (grain) of Shikhor [Nile], the katzir (harvest) of the Shikhor [Nile], is her tevuah (produce, income); and she is a Sakhar Goyim (market bazaar of nations).
4 Be thou ashamed, O Tzidon; for the yam hath spoken, even the ma’oz (fortress) of the yam, saying, I travail not, nor give birth, neither do I rear bochurim, nor bring up betulot.
5 As at the report concerning Mitzrayim, so shall they be sorely pained at the report of Tzor.
6 Cross ye over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the ee (isle, island).
7 Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? Her own raglayim shall carry her afar off to sojourn.
8 Who hath devised this against Tzor, the crowning city, whose sokharim (merchants) are sarim (princes), whose traders are the nikhbadei Eretz (honored of the Earth).
9 Hashem Tzva’os hath devised it, to demean the ga’on (pride) of every beauty, and to humble all the nikhbadei Eretz.
10 Pass through thy land like the Nile, O Bat Tarshish; there is no more restraint.
11 He stretched out His Yad over the yam, He shook the mamlakhot (kingdoms); Hashem hath given a commandment against Kena’an, to destroy her ma’a’uzim (fortresses).
12 And He said, Thou shalt no more exult, O thou oppressed Betulah, Bat Tzidon; arise, pass over to Kittim [Cyprus]; there also shalt thou have no rest.
13 Behold, Eretz Kasdim (land of Chaldeans); this people was not, till the Assyrian made it for wild creatures; they raise up the siege towers thereof, they destroyed the palaces thereof; and turned her to ruin.
14 Howl, ye oniyyot Tarshish; for your stronghold is destroyed.
15 And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tzor shall be forgotten shiv’im shanah, according to the yamim of melech echad; after the end of shiv’im shanah shall Tzor sing as a zonah.
16 Take a kinnor, go about the Ir, thou zonah that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many shir, that thou mayest be remembered.
17 And it shall come to pass at the end of shiv’im shanah, that Hashem will visit Tzor, and she shall return to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the mamlakhot HaAretz upon the face of ha’adamah.
18 And her gain and her hire shall be kodesh to Hashem; it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her [Tzor’s] earnings shall be for them that live before Hashem, to eat sufficiently, and for choice clothing.
Isaiah 23
Living Bible
23 This is God’s message to Tyre:
Weep, O ships of Tyre,[a] returning home from distant lands! Weep for your harbor, for it is gone! The rumors that you heard in Cyprus are all true. 2-3 Deathly silence is everywhere. Stillness reigns where once your hustling port was full of ships from Sidon, bringing merchandise from far across the ocean, from Egypt and along the Nile. You were the merchandise mart of the world. 4 Be ashamed, O Sidon, stronghold of the sea. For you are childless now! 5 When Egypt hears the news, there will be great sorrow. 6 Flee to Tarshish, men of Tyre, weeping as you go. 7 This silent ruin is all that’s left of your once joyous land. What a history was yours! Think of all the colonists you sent to distant lands!
8 Who has brought this disaster on Tyre, empire builder and top trader of the world? 9 The Commander of the armies of heaven has done it to destroy your pride and show his contempt for all the greatness of mankind. 10 Sail on, O ships of Tarshish, for your harbor is gone. 11 The Lord holds out his hand over the seas; he shakes the kingdoms of the earth; he has spoken out against this great merchant city, to destroy its strength.
12 He says, “Never again, O dishonored virgin, daughter of Sidon, will you rejoice, will you be strong. Even if you flee to Cyprus, you will find no rest.”
13 It will be the Babylonians, not the Assyrians, who consign Tyre to the wild beasts. They will lay siege to it, raze its palaces, and make it a heap of ruins. 14 Wail, you ships that ply the oceans, for your home port is destroyed!
15-16 For seventy years Tyre will be forgotten. Then, in the days of another king, the city will come back to life again; she will sing sweet songs as a harlot sings who, long absent from her lovers, walks the streets to look for them again and is remembered. 17 Yes, after seventy years, the Lord will revive Tyre, but she will be no different than she was before; she will return again to all her evil ways around the world. 18 Yet the distant time will come when[b] her businesses will give their profits to the Lord! They will not be hoarded but used for good food and fine clothes for the priests of the Lord!
Footnotes
- Isaiah 23:1 Tyre. Tyre was originally a colony of the mother city, Sidon. Also in v. 4.
- Isaiah 23:18 the distant time will come when, implied.
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