Isaiah 23
1
An oracle concerning Tyre: Wail, O ships of Tarshish! For Tyre is destroyed and left without house or harbor. From the land of Cyprus [1] word has come to them.
2
Be silent, you people of the island and you merchants of Sidon, whom the seafarers have enriched.
3
On the great waters came the grain of the Shihor; the harvest of the Nile [2] was the revenue of Tyre, and she became the marketplace of the nations.
4
Be ashamed, O Sidon, and you, O fortress of the sea, for the sea has spoken: "I have neither been in labor nor given birth; I have neither reared sons nor brought up daughters."
5
When word comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish at the report from Tyre.
6
Cross over to Tarshish; wail, you people of the island.
7
Is this your city of revelry, the old, old city, whose feet have taken her to settle in far-off lands?
8
Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are renowned in the earth?
9
The LORD Almighty planned it, to bring low the pride of all glory and to humble all who are renowned on the earth.
10
Till [3] your land as along the Nile, O Daughter of Tarshish, for you no longer have a harbor.
11
The LORD has stretched out his hand over the sea and made its kingdoms tremble. He has given an order concerning Phoenicia [4] that her fortresses be destroyed.
12
He said, "No more of your reveling, O Virgin Daughter of Sidon, now crushed! "Up, cross over to Cyprus [5] ; even there you will find no rest."
13
Look at the land of the Babylonians, [6] this people that is now of no account! The Assyrians have made it a place for desert creatures; they raised up their siege towers, they stripped its fortresses bare and turned it into a ruin.
14
Wail, you ships of Tarshish; your fortress is destroyed!
15
At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the span of a king's life. But at the end of these seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:
16
"Take up a harp, walk through the city, O prostitute forgotten; play the harp well, sing many a song, so that you will be remembered."
17
At the end of seventy years, the LORD will deal with Tyre. She will return to her hire as a prostitute and will ply her trade with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.
18
Yet her profit and her earnings will be set apart for the LORD; they will not be stored up or hoarded. Her profits will go to those who live before the LORD, for abundant food and fine clothes.
  1. [1,12] Hebrew Kittim
  2. [2,3] Masoretic Text; one Dead Sea Scroll Sidon, who cross over the sea; your envoys [3] are on the great waters. The grain of the Shihor, the harvest of the Nile,
  3. [10] Dead Sea Scrolls and some Septuagint manuscripts; Masoretic Text Go through
  4. [11] Hebrew Canaan
  5. [1,12] Hebrew Kittim
  6. [13] Or Chaldeans