Isaiah 23

The Fall Of Tyre

1The [mournful, inspired] oracle (a burden to be carried) concerning Tyre: Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
For Tyre is destroyed, without house, without harbor;
It is reported to them from the land of Cyprus (Kittim). 2Be silent, you inhabitants of the coastland,
You merchants of Sidon;
Your messengers crossed the sea 3And they were on great waters.
The grain of the Shihor, the harvest of the Nile River, was Tyre’s revenue;
And she was the market of nations. 4Be ashamed, O Sidon [mother-city of Tyre, now like a widow bereaved of her children];
For the sea speaks, the stronghold of the sea, saying,
“I have neither labored nor given birth [to children];
I have neither brought up young men nor reared virgins.” 5When the report reaches Egypt,
They will be in agony at the report about Tyre. 6Cross over to Tarshish [to seek safety as exiles];
Wail, O inhabitants of the coastland [of Tyre]. 7Is this your jubilant city,
Whose origin dates back to antiquity,
Whose feet used to carry her [far away] to colonize distant places? 8Who has planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
Whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth? 9The LORD of hosts has planned it, to defile the pride of all beauty,
To bring into contempt and humiliation all the honored of the earth. 10Overflow your land like [the overflow of] the Nile, O Daughter of Tarshish;
There is no more restraint [on you to make you pay tribute to Tyre]. 11He has stretched out His hand over the sea,
He has shaken the kingdoms;
The LORD has given a command concerning Canaan to destroy her strongholds and her fortresses [like Tyre and Sidon]. 12He has said, “You shall never again exult [in triumph], O crushed Virgin Daughter of Sidon.
Arise, cross over to Cyprus; even there you will find no rest.”

13Now look at the land of the Chaldeans (Babylonia)—this is the people which was not; the Assyrians allocated Tyre for desert creatures—they set up their siege towers, they stripped its palaces, they made it a ruin. 14Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
For your stronghold [of Tyre] is destroyed.

15Now in that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as in the prostitute’s song: 16Take a harp, walk around the city,
O forgotten prostitute;
Play the strings skillfully, sing many songs,
That you may be remembered.

17It will come to pass at the end of seventy years that the LORD will remember Tyre. Then she will return to her prostitute’s wages and will play the [role of a] prostitute [by trading] with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. 18But her commercial gain and her prostitute’s wages will be dedicated to the LORD; it will not be treasured or stored up, but her commercial gain will become sufficient food and stately clothing for those who dwell (minister) in the presence of the LORD.