Isaiah 23
23
The City of Tyre Will Be Punished
1 #
Ez 26.1—28.19; Jl 3.4-8; Am 1.9,10; Zec 9.1-4; Mt 11.21,22; Lk 10.13,14. This is a message from distant islands about the city of Tyre:#23.1 Tyre: A fortress city built on an island in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of what is now Lebanon.
Cry, you seagoing ships!#23.1 seagoing ships: See the note at 2.16.
Tyre and its houses
lie in ruins.#23.1 Tyre … ruins: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
2Mourn in silence,
you shop owners of Sidon,#23.2 Sidon: A coastal city just north of Tyre.
you people on the coast.
Your sailors crossed oceans,
making your city rich.
3Your merchants sailed the seas,
making you wealthy by trading
with nation after nation.
They brought back grain
that grew along the Nile.#23.3 along the Nile: The Hebrew text has “grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile,” but Shihor is probably a name for a region near the lower part of the Nile.
4Sidon, you are a mighty fortress
built along the sea.
But you will be disgraced
like a married woman
who never had children.#23.4 children: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
5When Egypt hears about Tyre,
it will tremble.
6All of you along the coast
had better cry and sail
far across the ocean.#23.6 far across the ocean: The Hebrew text has “to Tarshish,” probably meaning a long distance.
7Can this be the happy city
that has stood for centuries?
Its people have spread
to distant lands;
8its merchants were kings
honored all over the world.
Who planned to destroy Tyre?
9The Lord All-Powerful planned it
to bring shame and disgrace
to those who are honored
by everyone on earth.
10People of Tyre,#23.10 People of Tyre: The Hebrew text has “the people of Tarshish,” which stands for the colonies of Tyre.
your harbor is destroyed!
You will have to become farmers
just like the Egyptians.#23.10 Egyptians: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 10.
Tyre Will Be Forgotten
11The Lord's hand has reached
across the sea,
upsetting the nations.
He has given a command
to destroy fortresses
in the land of Canaan.
12The Lord has said
to the people of Sidon,
“Your celebrating is over—
you are crushed.
Even if you escape to Cyprus,
you won't find peace.”
13Look what the Assyrians have done to Babylonia! They have attacked, destroying every palace in the land. Now wild animals live among the ruins.#23.13 ruins: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 13. 14Not a fortress will be left standing, so tell all the seagoing ships#23.14 seagoing ships: See the note at 2.16. to mourn.
15The city of Tyre will be forgotten for 70 years, which is the lifetime of a king. Then Tyre will be like that evil woman in the song:
16You're gone and forgotten,
you evil woman!
So strut through the town,
singing and playing
your favorite tune
to be remembered again.
17At the end of those 70 years, the Lord will let Tyre get back into business. The city will be like a woman who sells her body to everyone of every nation on earth, 18but none of what is earned will be kept in the city. That money will belong to the Lord, and it will be used to buy more than enough food and good clothes for those who worship the Lord.
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Isaiah 23: CEV
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Isaias (Isaiah) 23
23
1THE burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of the sea, for the house is destroyed, from whence they were wont to come: from the land of Cethim it is revealed to them.
2Be silent, you that dwell in the island: the merchants of Sidon, passing over the sea, have filled thee.
3The seed of the Nile in many waters, the harvest of the river is her revenue: and she is become the mart of the nations.
4Be thou ashamed, O Sidon: for the sea speaketh, even the strength of the sea, saying: I have not been in labour; nor have I brought forth, nor have I nourished up young men, nor brought up virgins.
5When it shall be heard in Egypt, they will be sorry when they shall hear of Tyre.
6Pass over the seas, howl, ye inhabitants of the island.
7Is not this your city, which gloried from of old in her antiquity? Her feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.
8Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, that was formerly crowned, whose merchants were princes, and her traders the nobles of the earth?
9The Lord of hosts hath designed it, to pull down the pride of all glory and bring to disgrace all the glorious ones of the earth.
10Pass thy land as a river, O daughter of the sea: thou hast a girdle no more.
11He stretched out his hand over the sea: he troubled kingdoms. The Lord hath given a charge against Chanaan, to destroy the strong ones thereof.
12And he said: Thou shalt glory no more, O virgin daughter of Sidon, who art oppressed. Arise and sail over to Cethim: there also thou shalt have no rest.
13Behold the land of the Chaldeans: there was not such a people: the Assyrian founded it. They have led away the strong ones thereof into captivity, they have destroyed the houses thereof, they have brought it to ruin.
14Howl, O ye ships of the sea, for your strength is laid waste.
15And it shall come to pass in that day that thou, O Tyre, shalt be forgotten, seventy years, according to the days of one king: but after seventy years there shall be unto Tyre as the song of a harlot.
16Take a harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten: sing well, sing many a song, that thou mayst be remembered.
17And it shall come to pass after seventy years, that the Lord will visit Tyre and will bring her back again to her traffic: and she shall commit fornication again with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.
18And her merchandise and her hire shall be sanctified to the Lord. They shall not be kept in store nor laid up: for her merchandise shall be for them that shall dwell before the Lord, that they may eat unto fulness and be clothed for a continuance.
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.