^{1     [a]}Oracle on Tyre:
Wail, ships of Tarshish,
    for your port is destroyed;
From the land of the Kittim^[b]
    the news reaches them.^(A)
2 Silence! you who dwell on the coast,
    you merchants of Sidon,
Whose messengers crossed the sea
³     over the deep waters,
Whose revenue was the grain of Shihor,^[c] the harvest of the Nile,
    you who were the merchant among the nations.^(B)
4 Be ashamed, Sidon, fortress on the sea,
    for the sea^[d] has spoken,
“I have not been in labor, nor given birth,
    nor raised young men,
    nor reared young women.”
⁵ When the report reaches Egypt
    they shall be in anguish at the report about Tyre.
⁶ Pass over to Tarshish,^[e]
    wail, you who dwell on the coast!
⁷ Is this your exultant city,
    whose origin is from old,
Whose feet have taken her
    to dwell in distant lands?
⁸ Who has planned such a thing
    against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
Whose merchants are princes,
    whose traders are the earth’s honored men?
⁹ The Lord of hosts has planned it,
    to disgrace the height of all beauty,
    to degrade all the honored of the earth.^(C)
10 Cross to your own land,
    ship of Tarshish;
    the harbor is no more.
¹¹ His hand he stretches out over the sea,
    he shakes kingdoms;
The Lord commanded the destruction
    of Canaan’s strongholds:^[f](D)
12 Crushed, you shall exult no more,
    virgin daughter Sidon.
Arise, pass over to the Kittim,
    even there you shall find no rest.^(E)
13 [g]Look at the land of the Chaldeans,
    the people that has ceased to be.
Assyria founded it for ships,
    raised its towers,
Only to tear down its palaces,
    and turn it into a ruin.^(F)
14 Lament, ships of Tarshish,
    for your stronghold is destroyed.

¹ See! The Lord is about to empty the earth and lay it waste;
    he will twist its surface,
    and scatter its inhabitants:^(H)
2 People and priest shall fare alike:
    servant and master,
Maid and mistress,
    buyer and seller,
Lender and borrower,
    creditor and debtor.^(I)
3 The earth shall be utterly laid waste, utterly stripped,
    for the Lord has decreed this word.
⁴ The earth mourns and fades,
    the world languishes and fades;
    both heaven and earth languish.^(J)
5 The earth is polluted because of its inhabitants,
    for they have transgressed laws, violated statutes,
    broken the ancient covenant.^[l](K)
6 Therefore a curse devours the earth,
    and its inhabitants pay for their guilt;
Therefore they who dwell on earth have dwindled,
    and only a few are left.^(L)
7 The new wine mourns, the vine languishes,
    all the merry-hearted groan.^(M)
8 Stilled are the cheerful timbrels,
    ended the shouts of the jubilant,
    stilled the cheerful harp.^(N)
9 They no longer drink wine and sing;
    strong brew is bitter to those who drink it.^(O)
10 Broken down is the city of chaos,^[m]
    every house is shut against entry.^(P)
11 In the streets they cry out for lack of wine;
    all joy has grown dim,
    cheer is exiled from the land.^(Q)
12 In the city nothing remains but desolation,
    gates battered into ruins.
¹³ For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth,
    among the peoples,
As when an olive tree has been beaten,
    as with a gleaning when the vintage is done.^(R)
14 These^[n] shall lift up their voice,
    they shall sing for joy in the majesty of the Lord,
    they shall shout from the western sea:
¹⁵ “Therefore, in the east
    give glory to the Lord!
In the coastlands of the sea,
    to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel!”^(S)
16 From the end of the earth we hear songs:
    “Splendor to the Just One!”
But I said, “I am wasted, wasted away.
    Woe is me! The traitors betray;
    with treachery have the traitors betrayed!^(T)
17 Terror, pit, and trap
    for you, inhabitant of the earth!^(U)
18 One who flees at the sound of terror
    will fall into the pit;
One who climbs out of the pit
    will be caught in the trap.
For the windows on high are open
    and the foundations of the earth shake.^(V)
19 The earth will burst asunder,
    the earth will be shaken apart,
    the earth will be convulsed.
²⁰ The earth will reel like a drunkard,
    sway like a hut;
Its rebellion will weigh it down;
    it will fall, never to rise again.”^(W)
21 On that day the Lord will punish
    the host of the heavens^[o] in the heavens,
    and the kings of the earth on the earth.
²² They will be gathered together
    like prisoners into a pit;
They will be shut up in a dungeon,
    and after many days they will be punished.^(X)
23 Then the moon will blush
    and the sun be ashamed,^(Y)
For the Lord of hosts will reign
    on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
    glorious in the sight of the elders.^[p](Z)

¹¹ For wickedness, of its nature cowardly, testifies in its own condemnation,
    and because of a distressed conscience, always magnifies misfortunes.^(A)
12 For fear is nought but the surrender of the helps that come from reason;
¹³     and the more one’s expectation is of itself uncertain,
    the more one makes of not knowing the cause that brings on torment.
¹⁴ So they, during that night, powerless though it was,
    since it had come upon them from the recesses of a powerless^[a] Hades,
    while all sleeping the same sleep,
¹⁵ Were partly smitten by fearsome apparitions
    and partly stricken by their souls’ surrender;
    for fear overwhelmed them, sudden and unexpected.^(B)
16 Thus, then, whoever was there fell
    into that prison without bars and was kept confined.^(C)
17 For whether one was a farmer, or a shepherd,
    or a worker at tasks in the wasteland,
Taken unawares, each served out the inescapable sentence;
¹⁸     for all were bound by the one bond of darkness.^(D)
And were it only the whistling wind,
    or the melodious song of birds in the spreading branches,
Or the steady sound of rushing water,
¹⁹     or the rude crash of overthrown rocks,
Or the unseen gallop of bounding animals,
    or the roaring cry of the fiercest beasts,
Or an echo resounding from the hollow of the hills—
    these sounds, inspiring terror, paralyzed them.
²⁰ For the whole world shone with brilliant light^(E)
    and continued its works without interruption;
²¹ But over them alone was spread oppressive night,
    an image of the darkness^[b] that was about to come upon them.
    Yet they were more a burden to themselves than was the darkness.