Isaiah 23
23
A Message about Phoenicia
1 #
Ezek 26.1—28.19; Joel 3.4–8; Amos 1.9–10; Zech 9.1–4; Mt 11.21–22; Lk 10.13–14 This is a message about Tyre.
Howl with grief, you sailors out on the ocean! Your home port of Tyre has been destroyed; its houses and its harbour are in ruins. As your ships return from Cyprus, you learn the news. 2Wail, you merchants of Sidon! You sent men 3across the sea to buy and sell the corn that grew in Egypt and to do business with all the nations.
4City of Sidon, you are disgraced! The sea and the great ocean depths disown you and say, “I never had any children. I never brought up sons or daughters.”
5Even the Egyptians will be shocked and dismayed when they learn that Tyre has been destroyed.
6Howl with grief, you people of Phoenicia! Try to escape to Spain! 7Can this be the joyful city of Tyre, founded so long ago? Is this the city that sent settlers across the sea to establish colonies? 8Who was it that planned to bring all this on Tyre, that imperial city, whose merchant princes were the most honoured men on earth? 9The LORD Almighty planned it. He planned it in order to put an end to their pride in what they had done and to humiliate their honoured ones.
10Go and farm the land, you people in the colonies in Spain! There is no one to protect you any more.#23.10 Verse 10 in Hebrew is unclear. 11The LORD has stretched out his hand over the sea and overthrown kingdoms. He has ordered the Phoenician centres of commerce to be destroyed. 12City of Sidon, your happiness has ended, and your people are oppressed. Even if they escape to Cyprus, they will still not be safe.
13(It was the Babylonians, not the Assyrians, who let the wild animals overrun Tyre. It was the Babylonians who put up siege towers, tore down the fortifications of Tyre, and left the city in ruins.#23.13 Verse 13 in Hebrew is unclear.)
14Howl with grief, you sailors out on the ocean! The city you relied on has been destroyed.
15A time is coming when Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the lifetime of a king. When those years are over, Tyre will be like the prostitute in the song:
16Take your harp, go round the town,
you poor forgotten whore!
Play and sing your songs again
to bring men back once more.
17When the seventy years are over, the LORD will let Tyre go back to her old trade, and she will hire herself out to all the kingdoms of the world. 18The money she earns by commerce will be dedicated to the LORD. She will not store it away, but those who worship the LORD will use her money to buy the food and the clothing they need.
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Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Isaiah 23
23
1 #
Ezek 26.1—28.19; Joel 3.4-8; Amos 1.9-10; Zech 9.3-4. The oracle concerning Tyre.
Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for Tyre is laid waste, without house or haven!
From the land of Cyprus
it is revealed to them.
2Be still, O inhabitants of the coast,
O merchants of Sidon;
your messengers passed over the sea#23.2 One ancient Ms: Heb who passed over the sea, they replenished you
3and were on many waters;
your revenue was the grain of Shihor,
the harvest of the Nile;
you were the merchant of the nations.
4Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken,
the stronghold of the sea, saying:
“I have neither travailed nor given birth,
I have neither reared young men
nor brought up virgins.”
5When the report comes to Egypt,
they will be in anguish over the report about Tyre.
6Pass over to Tarshish,
wail, O inhabitants of the coast!
7Is this your exultant city
whose origin is from days of old,
whose feet carried her
to settle afar?
8Who has purposed this
against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants were princes,
whose traders were the honored of the earth?
9The Lord of hosts has purposed it,
to defile the pride of all glory,
to dishonor all the honored of the earth.
10Overflow your land like the Nile,
O daughter of Tarshish;
there is no restraint any more.
11He has stretched out his hand over the sea,
he has shaken the kingdoms;
the Lord has given command concerning Canaan
to destroy its strongholds.
12And he said:
“You will no more exult,
O oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon;
arise, pass over to Cyprus,
even there you will have no rest.”
13Behold the land of the Chaldeans! This is the people; it was not Assyria. They destined Tyre for wild beasts. They erected their siege towers, they razed her palaces, they made her a ruin.#23.13 The Hebrew of this verse is obscure
14Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for your stronghold is laid waste.
15In 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 song of the harlot:
16“Take a harp,
go about the city,
O forgotten harlot!
Make sweet melody,
sing many songs,
that you may be remembered.”
17 #
Rev 17.2. At the end of seventy years, the Lord will visit Tyre, and she will return to her hire, and will play the harlot with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth. 18Her merchandise and her hire will be dedicated 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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Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America