Isaiah 23
23
It Was All Numbers, Dead Numbers, Profit and Loss
1-4Wail, ships of Tarshish,
your strong seaports all in ruins!
When the ships returned from Cyprus,
they saw the destruction.
Hold your tongue, you who live on the seacoast,
merchants of Sidon.
Your people sailed the deep seas,
buying and selling,
Making money on wheat from Shihor,
grown along the Nile—
multinational broker in grains!
Hang your head in shame, Sidon. The Sea speaks up,
the powerhouse of the ocean says,
“I’ve never had labor pains, never had a baby,
never reared children to adulthood,
Never gave life, never worked with life.
It was all numbers, dead numbers, profit and loss.”
5When Egypt gets the report on Tyre,
what wailing! what wringing of hands!
Nothing Left Here to Be Proud Of
6-12Visit Tarshish, you who live on the seacoast.
Take a good, long look and wail—yes, cry buckets of tears!
Is this the city you remember as energetic and alive,
bustling with activity, this historic old city,
Expanding throughout the globe,
buying and selling all over the world?
And who is behind the collapse of Tyre,
the Tyre that controlled the world markets?
Tyre’s merchants were the business tycoons.
Tyre’s traders called all the shots.
God-of-the-Angel-Armies ordered the crash
to show the sordid backside of pride
and puncture the inflated reputations.
Sail for home, O ships of Tarshish.
There are no docks left in this harbor.
God reached out to the sea and sea traders,
threw the sea kingdoms into turmoil.
God ordered the destruction
of the seacoast cities, the centers of commerce.
God said, “There’s nothing left here to be proud of,
bankrupt and bereft Sidon.
Do you want to make a new start in Cyprus?
Don’t count on it. Nothing there will work out for you either.”
13Look at what happened to Babylon: There’s nothing left of it. Assyria turned it into a desert, into a refuge for wild dogs and stray cats. They brought in their big siege engines, tore down the buildings, and left nothing behind but rubble.
14Wail, ships of Tarshish,
your strong seaports all in ruins!
* * *
15-16For the next seventy years, a king’s lifetime, Tyre will be forgotten. At the end of the seventy years, Tyre will stage a comeback, but it will be the comeback of a worn-out whore, as in the song:
“Take a harp, circle the city,
unremembered whore.
Sing your old songs, your many old songs.
Maybe someone will remember.”
17-18At the end of the seventy years, God will look in on Tyre. She’ll go back to her old whoring trade, selling herself to the highest bidder, doing anything with anyone—promiscuous with all the kingdoms of earth—for a fee. But everything she gets, all the money she takes in, will be turned over to God. It will not be put in banks. Her profits will be put to the use of God-Aware, God-Serving-People, providing plenty of food and the best of clothing.
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Isaiah 23: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
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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