< Isaiah 23 >
1 The burden of Tyre. Howl, you ships of Tarshish. For it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in. From the land of Kittim it is revealed to them.
2 Be still, you inhabitants of the coast, you whom the merchants of Sidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished.
3 On great waters, the seed of the Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, was her revenue. She was the market of nations.
4 Be ashamed, Sidon; for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying, "I have not travailed, nor brought forth, neither have I nourished young men, nor brought up virgins."
5 When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish at the report of Tyre.
6 Pass over to Tarshish. Wail, you inhabitants of the coast.
7 Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days, whose feet carried her far away to travel?
8 Who has planned this against Tyre, the giver of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honorable of the earth?
9 YHWH of hosts has planned it, to defile all the pride of glory, to shame all the honored of the earth.
10 Cultivate your land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish; there is no restraint any more.
11 He has stretched out his hand over the sea. He has shaken the kingdoms. YHWH has ordered the destruction of Canaan's strongholds.
12 He said, "You shall rejoice no more, you oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon. Arise, pass over to Kittim. Even there you will have no rest."
13 Look, the land of the Chaldeans, these people who have become nothing. The Assyrians have made it a home for wild animals. They set up their siege towers, they tore down her palaces, they made her a ruin.
14 Howl, you ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold is laid waste.
15 It will come to pass in that day that Tyre will be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king. After the end of seventy years it will be to Tyre like in the song of the prostitute.
16 Take a harp; go about the city, you prostitute that has been forgotten. Make sweet melody. Sing many songs, that you may be remembered.
17 It will happen after the end of seventy years that YHWH will visit Tyre, and she shall return to her wages, and will play the prostitute with all the kingdoms of the world on the surface of the earth.
18 Her merchandise and her wages will be holiness to YHWH. It will not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise will be for those who dwell before YHWH, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.