Isaiah 23
23
XXIII
1THE ORACLE CONCERNING TYRE.
Howl, ye ships of Tarshish,
For she is laid waste; so that there is no house, no entering in:
From the land of Chittim it is revealed to them.
2Be silent, ye inhabitants of the sea-coast:
Thou whom the merchants of Sidon, that pass over the sea, crowded.
3And upon the mighty waters the seed of Sihor,
The harvest of the river, was her revenue;
And she was the mart of nations.
4Be thou ashamed, O Zidon; for the sea hath spoken.
Even the fortress of the sea, saying:
I have travailed not, nor brought forth children;
Neither have I nourished youths, nor reared up virgins.
5When the tidings shall reach Egypt,
They shall be seized with anguish at the tidings of Tyre.
6Pass ye over to Tarshish;
Howl, ye inhabitants of the sea-coast!
7Is this your joyous city;
Whose antiquity is of ancient days?
Her own feet bear her far away to sojourn.
8Who hath purposed this against Tyre, the dispenser of crowns;
Whose merchants are princes,
Her traders the honourable of the earth!
9 Jehovah of hosts hath purposed it,
To defile the pride of all beauty;
To bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth,
10Pass through thy land, like the river, O daughter of Tarshish!
There is now no defence left
11He hath stretched his hand over the sea,
He hath caused the kingdoms to tremble:
Jehovah hath issued a command concerning Canaan,
To destroy her strong holds.
12And he hath said: Thou shalt no more rejoice,
O thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon:
Arise, pass over to Chittim; even there thou shalt have no rest.
13Behold the land of the Chaldeans!
This people was not,
Till the Assyrian founded it for the inhabitants of the desert.
They have raised their watch-towers,
They have demolished the palaces thereof;
Reduced her to a ruin.
14Howl, ye ships of Tarshish:
For your strong hold is destroyed.
15And it shall come to pass in that day,
That Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years,
According to the days of one king:
At the end of seventy years,
There shall be unto Tyre as it were the song of an harlot.
16Take an harp, go about the city,
Thou harlot that hast been forgotten;
Touch skilfully the strings, sing many songs, that thou mayest again be remembered.
17And it shall come to pass at the end of seventy years, That Jehovah will visit Tyre,
And she shall return to her hire;
And she shall play the harlot with all the kingdoms of the world,
That are upon the face of the earth.
18But her merchandise and her hire shall be holy to Jehovah:
It shall not be treasured up, nor shall it be kept in store;
For her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before Jehovah,
To eat sufficiently; and for beautiful clothing.
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Isaiah 23: TEG
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Translated by Rev John Jones (Ioan Tegid).Published at Oxford in 1830, second edition 1842.
Isaiah 23
23
A Prophecy Against Tyre
1Here is a prophecy against Tyre that the Lord gave me.
Men in the ships of Tarshish, cry out!
The city of Tyre is destroyed.
Its houses and harbor are gone.
That’s the message you have received
from the island of Cyprus.
2People on the island of Tyre, be silent.
Traders from the city of Sidon, be quiet.
Those who sail on the Mediterranean Sea have made you rich.
3Grain from Egypt
came across the mighty waters.
The harvest of the Nile River brought wealth to Tyre.
It became the market place of the nations.
4Sidon, be ashamed. Mighty Tyre out in the sea, be ashamed.
The sea has spoken. It has said,
“It’s as if I had never felt labor pains or had children.
It’s as if I had never brought up sons or daughters.
It’s as if the city of Tyre had never existed.”
5The Egyptians will hear about what has happened to Tyre.
They’ll be very sad and troubled.
6People of the island of Tyre, cry out!
Go across the sea to Tarshish.
7Just look at Tyre.
It’s no longer the old, old city that was known for its wild parties.
It no longer sends its people out
to make their homes in lands far away.
8Tyre was a city that produced kings.
Its traders were princes.
They were honored all over the earth.
So who planned to destroy such a city?
9The Lord who rules over all planned to do it.
He wanted to bring down all its pride and glory.
He wanted to shame those who were honored all over the earth.
10People of Tarshish, farm your land
as they do along the Nile River.
That’s because you don’t have a harbor anymore.
11The Lord has reached his powerful hand out over the sea.
He has made its kingdoms tremble with fear.
He has given a command concerning Phoenicia.
He has ordered that its forts be destroyed.
12He said, “No more wild parties for you!
People of Sidon, you are now destroyed!
“Leave your city. Go across the sea to Cyprus.
Even there you will not find any rest.”
13Look at the land of the Babylonians.
No one lives there anymore.
The Assyrians have turned it
into a place for desert creatures.
They built their towers in order to attack it.
They took everything out of its forts.
They knocked down all its buildings.
14Men in the ships of Tarshish, cry out!
Mighty Tyre is destroyed!
15A time is coming when people will forget about Tyre for 70 years. That’s the length of a king’s life. But at the end of those 70 years, Tyre will be like the prostitute that people sing about. They say,
16“Forgotten prostitute, pick up a harp.
Walk through the city.
Play the harp well. Sing many songs.
Then you will be remembered.”
17At the end of the 70 years, the Lord will punish Tyre. He will let it return to its way of life as a prostitute. It will earn its living with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. 18But the money it earns will be set apart for the Lord. The money won’t be stored up or kept for Tyre. Instead, it will go to those who live the way the Lord wants them to. It will pay for plenty of food and fine clothes for them.
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