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
Oracle against Tyre
1The oracle of Tyre:
Wail, ships of Tarshish, for the house is destroyed so that no one can enter;#Literally “it is destroyed from a house from entering”
it is announced to them from the land of Cyprus.
2Be still, inhabitants of the coast,
merchant of Sidon, who travels over the sea, they filled you.
3And on the great waters is the seed of Shihor,
the harvest of the Nile is its produce,
and she was the merchandise of the nations.
4Be ashamed, Sidon, for the sea,
the fortress of the sea said, saying,
“I was not in labor,
and I have not given birth,
and I have not reared young men,
brought#Or “I have brought” up young women.”
5When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish at the report about#Literally “of” Tyre.
6Cross over to Tarshish!
Wail, inhabitants of the coast!
7Is this your exultant one,#Literally “this to you, exultant” her origin from the days of long ago?
Her feet brought her to dwell afar as an alien.
8Who has planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,#Hebrew “crown”
whose merchants were princes,
her traders the honored ones of the earth?
9Yahweh of hosts has planned it:
to defile the pride of all glory,
to humble all the honored ones of the earth.
10Cross over your own land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish;
there is no longer a harbor.#Hebrew “waistband” is emended to “harbor” by transposing two consonants
11He has stretched his hand out over the sea;
he has made kingdoms shake.
Yahweh has commanded concerning Canaan to destroy her fortresses.
12And he said,
“You will not continue#Literally “do again longer” to exult, crushed one, virgin#Literally “virgin of the” daughter of Sidon.
Arise, cross over to Cyprus! There will be no rest for you even there.”
13Look at the land of the Chaldeans! This people no longer exists.
Assyria destined#Literally “this people was not Assyria destined,” which could be translated “It was this people! It was not Assyria. They destined” it for wild animals.
They erected its siege towers;
they demolished its citadel fortresses.
It made her like a ruin.
14Wail, ships of Tarshish! For your fortress is destroyed.
15And this will happen on that day:
And Tyre will be forgotten seventy years,#Hebrew “year”
like the days of one king.
At the end of seventy years,#Hebrew “year” it will be for Tyre like the song of the prostitute:
16“Take a harp,
go around the city, forgotten prostitute!
Do it well, playing a stringed instrument!
Make numerous songs,#Hebrew “song” that you may be remembered.”
17And this shall happen:
at the end of seventy years,#Hebrew “year” Yahweh will visit Tyre,
and she will return to her harlot’s wages,
and she will commit fornication
with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.
18And this shall happen:
her merchandise and her harlot’s wages will be set apart for Yahweh;
it will not be stored up,
and it will not be hoarded,
but her merchandise will be for those who live before the presence#Literally “face” of Yahweh,
for eating to satiation and for fine clothing.
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