Isaiah 23 — AAB
The Burden against Tyre
23Verse 1This is the burden against Tyre:Wail, O ships of Tarshish,+for Tyre is laid waste,
without house or harbor.Word has reached themfrom the land of Cyprus.+Verse 2Be silent, O dwellers of the coastland,you merchants of Sidon,
whose traders have crossed the sea.+Verse 3On the great waterscame the grain of Shihor;the harvest of the Nile was the revenue of Tyre;she was the merchant of the nations.Verse 4Be ashamed, O Sidon, the stronghold of the sea,for the sea has spoken:“I have not been in laboror given birth.I have not raised young menor brought up young women.”Verse 5When the report reaches Egypt,they will writhe in agony over the news of Tyre.Verse 6Cross over to Tarshish;wail, O inhabitants of the coastland!Verse 7Is this your jubilant city,whose origin is from antiquity,whose feet have taken herto settle far away?Verse 8Who planned this against Tyre,the bestower of crowns,whose traders are princes,whose merchants are renowned on the earth?Verse 9The LORD of Hosts planned it,to defile all its glorious beauty,
to disgrace all the renowned of the earth.Verse 10Cultivate+your land like the Nile, O Daughter of Tarshish;there is no longer a harbor.Verse 11The LORD has stretched out His hand over the sea;He has made kingdoms tremble.He has given a commandthat the strongholds of Canaan be destroyed.Verse 12He said, “You shall rejoice no more,O oppressed Virgin Daughter of Sidon.Get up and cross over to Cyprus—even there you will find no rest.”Verse 13Look at the land of the Chaldeans+—a people now of no account.The Assyrians destined it for the desert creatures;they set up their siege towers and stripped its palaces.
They brought it to ruin.Verse 14Wail, O ships of Tarshish,for your harbor has been destroyed!Verse 15At that time Tyre 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:Verse 16“Take up your harp,stroll through the city,
O forgotten harlot.Make sweet melody,sing many a song,
so you will be remembered.”Verse 17And at the end of seventy years, the LORD will restore Tyre. Then she will return to hire as a prostitute and sell herself to all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.Verse 18Yet her profits and wages will be set apart to the LORD; 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.