Isa 23 | BSB | STEP | [This is] an oracle concerning Tyre: Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for [Tyre] is laid waste, without house [or] harbor. Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus.

‏ Isaiah 23

The Fall of Tyre

1 [This is] an oracle concerning Tyre: Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for [Tyre] is laid waste, without house [or] harbor. Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus. ^{▼▼Hebrew Kittim; also in verse 12} 2 Be silent, O dwellers of the coastland, you merchants of Sidon, whom the seafarers have enriched. 3 On the great waters came the grain of Shihor; the harvest of the Nile was the revenue of Tyre; she was the merchant of the nations. 4 Be ashamed, O Sidon, the stronghold of the sea, 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.” 5 When the report [reaches] Egypt, they will writhe in agony over the news of Tyre. 6 Cross over to Tarshish; wail, O inhabitants of the coastland! 7 Is this your jubilant city, whose origin is from antiquity, whose feet have taken her to settle far away? 8 Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose traders are princes, whose merchants are renowned on the earth? 9 The LORD of Hosts planned it, to defile all its glorious beauty, to disgrace all the renowned of the earth. 10 Overflow ^{▼▼MT; DSS and some LXX manuscripts Till} your land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish; there is no longer a harbor. 11 [The LORD] has stretched out His hand over the sea; He has made kingdoms tremble. [He] has given a command that the strongholds of Canaan be destroyed. 12 He said, “You shall rejoice no more, O oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon. Get up and cross over to Cyprus— even there you will find no rest.” 13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans— ^{▼▼That is, the Babylonians} a people now of no account. The Assyrians destined it for the desert creatures; they set up their siege towers and stripped its palaces. They brought it to ruin. 14 Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for your harbor has been destroyed! 15 At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years— the span of a king’s life. But at the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot: 16 Take up your harp, stroll through the city, O forgotten harlot; make sweet melody, sing many a song, so you will be remembered. 17 And at the end of seventy years, the LORD will restore Tyre. Then she will return to hire as a prostitute and sell herself to all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. 18 Yet her profits and wages will be set apart to the LORD; they will not be stored or saved, for her profit will go to those who live before the LORD, for abundant food and fine clothes.