Judgment on Israel's Enemies

The oracle of the word of the Lord is against the land of Hadrach
    and (A)Damascus is its resting place.
For the Lord has an eye on mankind
    and on all the tribes of Israel,[a]
(B)and on Hamath also, which borders on it,
    (C)Tyre and (D)Sidon, though (E)they are very wise.
Tyre has built herself (F)a rampart
    and (G)heaped up silver like dust,
    and fine gold like the mud of the streets.
But behold, the Lord will strip her of her possessions
    and strike down (H)her power on the sea,
    and (I)she shall be devoured by fire.

(J)Ashkelon shall see it, and be afraid;
    Gaza too, and shall writhe in anguish;
    Ekron also, because its hopes are confounded.
The king shall perish from Gaza;
    Ashkelon shall be uninhabited;
(K)a mixed people[b] shall dwell in Ashdod,
    and I will cut off the pride of Philistia.

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Footnotes

  1. Zechariah 9:1 Or For the eye of mankind, especially of all the tribes of Israel, is toward the Lord
  2. Zechariah 9:6 Or a foreign people; Hebrew a bastard

An Oracle Concerning Tyre and Sidon

23 The (A)oracle concerning (B)Tyre.

Wail, O (C)ships of Tarshish,
    for Tyre is laid waste, (D)without house or harbor!
From (E)the land of Cyprus[a]
    it is revealed to them.
Be still, O inhabitants of the coast;
    the merchants of (F)Sidon, who cross the sea, have filled you.
And on many waters
your revenue was the grain of Shihor,
    the harvest of the Nile;
    you were (G)the merchant of the nations.
Be ashamed, O (H)Sidon, for the sea has spoken,
    the stronghold of the sea, saying:
“I have neither labored nor given birth,
    I have neither reared young men
    nor brought up young women.”
When the report comes to Egypt,
    they will be in anguish[b] over the report about Tyre.
(I)Cross over to Tarshish;
    wail, O inhabitants of the coast!
Is this your exultant city
    (J)whose origin is from days of old,
whose feet carried her
    to settle far away?
Who has purposed this
    against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants were princes,
    whose traders were the honored of the earth?
The Lord of hosts has purposed it,
    (K)to defile the pompous pride of all glory,[c]
    to dishonor all the honored of the earth.
10 Cross over your land like the Nile,
    O daughter of Tarshish;
    there is no restraint anymore.
11 (L)He has stretched out his hand over the sea;
    he has shaken the kingdoms;
the Lord has given command concerning Canaan
    to destroy its strongholds.
12 And he said:
“You will no more exult,
    O oppressed virgin daughter of (M)Sidon;
arise, (N)cross over to (O)Cyprus,
    even there you will have no rest.”

13 Behold the land of (P)the Chaldeans! This is the people that was not;[d] Assyria destined it for wild beasts. They erected (Q)their siege towers, they stripped her palaces bare, they made her a ruin.

14 (R)Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
    for your stronghold is laid waste.

15 In that day Tyre will be forgotten for (S)seventy years, like the days[e] of one king. At the end of (T)seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:

16 “Take a harp;
    go about the city,
    O forgotten prostitute!
Make sweet melody;
    sing many songs,
    that you may be remembered.”

17 At the end of (U)seventy years, the Lord will visit Tyre, and she will return to her wages and (V)will prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. 18 Her merchandise and her wages will be holy to the Lord. It will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who dwell before the Lord.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 23:1 Hebrew Kittim; also verse 12
  2. Isaiah 23:5 Hebrew they will have labor pains
  3. Isaiah 23:9 The Hebrew words for glory and hosts sound alike
  4. Isaiah 23:13 Or that has become nothing
  5. Isaiah 23:15 Or lifetime

Prophecy Against the Prince of Tyre

28 The word of the Lord came to me: (A)“Son of man, say to (B)the prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord God:

(C)“Because your heart is proud,
    and (D)you have said, ‘I am a god,
I sit in the seat of the gods,
    in the heart of the seas,’
yet (E)you are but a man, and no god,
    (F)though you make your heart like the heart of a god—
(G)you are indeed wiser (H)than (I)Daniel;
    no secret is hidden from you;
by your wisdom and your understanding
    (J)you have made wealth for yourself,
and have gathered gold and silver
    into your treasuries;
by your great wisdom in your trade
    you have increased your wealth,
    and (K)your heart has become proud in your wealth—
therefore thus says the Lord God:
(L)Because you make your heart
    like the heart of a god,
therefore, behold, I will bring (M)foreigners upon you,
    the most ruthless of the nations;
and they shall draw their swords against (N)the beauty of your wisdom
    and defile (O)your splendor.
(P)They shall thrust you down into the pit,
    (Q)and you shall die the death of the slain
    in the heart of the seas.
(R)Will you still say, ‘I am a god,’
    in the presence of those who kill you,
though (S)you are but a man, and no god,
    in the hands of those who slay you?
10 (T)You shall die the death of the uncircumcised
    by the hand of foreigners;
    (U)for I have spoken, declares the Lord God.”

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