Thematic Bible
Isaiah 23:1 (show verse)
An oracle against Tyre:
Wail, ships of Tarshish,
for your haven has been destroyed.
Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus.
for your haven has been destroyed.
Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus.
Isaiah 23:2 (show verse)
you merchants of Sidon;
your agents have crossed the sea
Isaiah 23:3 (show verse)
Tyre’s revenue was the grain from Shihor—
the harvest of the Nile.
She was the merchant among the nations.
Isaiah 23:4 (show verse)
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.”
Isaiah 23:5 (show verse)
they will be in anguish over the news about Tyre.
Isaiah 23:6 (show verse)
wail, inhabitants of the coastland!
Isaiah 23:7 (show verse)
whose origin was in ancient times,
whose feet have taken her
to settle far away?
Isaiah 23:8 (show verse)
the bestower of crowns,
whose traders are princes,
whose merchants are the honored ones of the earth?
Isaiah 23:9 (show verse)
to desecrate all its glorious beauty,
to disgrace all the honored ones of the earth.
Isaiah 23:10 (show verse)
there is no longer anything to restrain you.
Isaiah 23:11 (show verse)
He made kingdoms tremble.
The Lord has commanded
that the Canaanite fortresses be destroyed.
Isaiah 23:12 (show verse)
“You will not rejoice anymore,
ravished young woman, daughter of Sidon.
Get up and cross over to Cyprus
even there you will have no rest!”
Isaiah 23:13 (show verse)
a people who no longer exist.
Assyria destined it for desert creatures.
They set up their siege towers
and stripped its palaces.
They made it a ruin.
Isaiah 23:14 (show verse)
because your fortress is destroyed!
Isaiah 23:15 (show verse)
On that day Tyre will be forgotten for 70 years—the life span of one king. At the end of 70 years, what the song says about the prostitute will happen to Tyre:
Isaiah 23:16 (show verse)
stroll through the city,
prostitute forgotten by men.
Play skillfully,
sing many a song,
and you will be thought of again.
Isaiah 23:17 (show verse)
And at the end of the 70 years, the Lord will restore Tyre and she will go back into business, prostituting herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.
Isaiah 23:18 (show verse)
But her profits and wages will be dedicated to the Lord. They will not be stored or saved, for her profit will go to those who live in the Lord’s presence, to provide them with ample food and sacred clothing.