Isaiah 23

Berean Standard Bible

Chapter summary

This chapter presents a prophecy concerning the destruction of Tyre and Sidon, major maritime trading centers. Ships of Tarshish and coastal dwellers are summoned to wail because Tyre’s harbors and houses are laid waste, with news arriving from Cyprus and Egypt. The Lord of Hosts is identified as the planner of this devastation against the renowned city to humble its pride and disrupt its commerce. Furthermore, the text mentions the Chaldeans and Assyrians regarding the ruin of lands. Finally, Tyre is slated to be forgotten for seventy years, after which the Lord will restore the city so that it may resume its trade with the kingdoms of the earth, with its profits ultimately dedicated to the Lord.

Summary automatically generated from the Bible text.

Words of Jesus in red

¹This is the burden against Tyre: Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor. Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus. ²Be silent, O dwellers of the coastland, you merchants of Sidon, whose traders have crossed the sea. ³On the great waters came the grain of Shihor; the harvest of the Nile was the revenue of Tyre; she was the merchant of the nations. ⁴Be ashamed, O Sidon, the stronghold of the sea, for the sea has spoken: “I have not been in labor or given birth. I have not raised young men or brought up young women.” ⁵When the report reaches Egypt, they will writhe in agony over the news of Tyre. ⁶Cross over to Tarshish; wail, O inhabitants of the coastland! ⁷Is this your jubilant city, whose origin is from antiquity, whose feet have taken her to settle far away? ⁸Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose traders are princes, whose merchants are renowned on the earth? ⁹The LORD of Hosts planned it, to defile all its glorious beauty, to disgrace all the renowned of the earth. ¹⁰Cultivate your land like the Nile, O Daughter of Tarshish; there is no longer a harbor. ¹¹The LORD has stretched out His hand over the sea; He has made kingdoms tremble. He has given a command that the strongholds of Canaan be destroyed. ¹²He said, “You shall rejoice no more, O oppressed Virgin Daughter of Sidon. Get up and cross over to Cyprus— even there you will find no rest.” ¹³Look at the land of the Chaldeans — a people now of no account. The Assyrians destined it for the desert creatures; they set up their siege towers and stripped its palaces. They brought it to ruin. ¹⁴Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for your harbor has been destroyed! ¹⁵At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years—the span of a king’s life. But at the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot: ¹⁶“Take up your harp, stroll through the city, O forgotten harlot. Make sweet melody, sing many a song, so you will be remembered.” ¹⁷And at the end of seventy years, the LORD will restore Tyre. Then she will return to hire as a prostitute and sell herself to all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. ¹⁸Yet her profits and wages will be set apart to the LORD; they will not be stored or saved, for her profit will go to those who live before the LORD, for abundant food and fine clothing.

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Louis Segond 1910 and Berean Standard Bible: public domain. Cross references: open-cross-ref, Creative Commons BY 4.0.