Isaiah 23

¹The 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

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 Chaldeʹans! 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.

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.”

¹⁷At 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.