Isaiah 23

Oracle against Tyre

¹The oracle of Tyre:

Wail, ships of Tarshish, for the house is destroyed so that no one can enter;

²Be still, inhabitants of the coast,

³And on the great waters is the seed of Shihor,

⁴Be ashamed, Sidon, for the sea,

“I was not in labor,

and I have not reared young men,

⁵When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish at the report about Tyre.[#Literally “of”]

⁶Cross over to Tarshish!

⁷Is this your exultant one, her origin from the days of long ago?[#Literally “this to you, exultant”]

⁸Who has planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,[#Hebrew “crown”]

whose merchants were princes,

⁹Yahweh of hosts has planned it:

to defile the pride of all glory,

¹⁰Cross over your own land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish;

there is no longer a harbor.

¹¹He has stretched his hand out over the sea;

Yahweh has commanded concerning Canaan to destroy her fortresses.

¹²And he said,

“You will not continue to exult, crushed one, virgin daughter of Sidon.

¹³Look at the land of the Chaldeans! This people no longer exists.

Assyria destined it for wild animals.

They erected its siege towers;

¹⁴Wail, ships of Tarshish! For your fortress is destroyed.

¹⁵And this will happen on that day:

And Tyre will be forgotten seventy years,

like the days of one king.

At the end of seventy years, it will be for Tyre like the song of the prostitute:

¹⁶“Take a harp,

Do it well, playing a stringed instrument!

¹⁷And this shall happen:

at the end of seventy years, Yahweh will visit Tyre,

and she will return to her harlot’s wages,

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,

but her merchandise will be for those who live before the presence of Yahweh,