Isaiah 23

¹This is the burden against Tyre:

Wail, O ships of Tarshish,^a

for Tyre is laid waste,

without house or harbor.

Word has reached them

from the land of Cyprus.^b

²Be silent, O dwellers of the coastland,

you merchants of Sidon,

whose traders have crossed the sea.^a

³On 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.

⁴Be 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.”

⁵When the report reaches Egypt,

they will writhe in agony over the news of Tyre.

⁶Cross over to Tarshish;

wail, O inhabitants of the coastland!

⁷Is this your jubilant city,

whose origin is from antiquity,

whose feet have taken her

to settle far away?

⁸Who planned this against Tyre,

the bestower of crowns,

whose traders are princes,

whose merchants are renowned on the earth?

⁹The LORD of Hosts planned it,

to defile all its glorious beauty,

to disgrace all the renowned of the earth.

¹⁰Cultivate^a your land like the Nile, O Daughter of Tarshish;

there is no longer a harbor.

¹¹The 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.

¹²He 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.”

¹³Look at the land of the Chaldeans—^a

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.

¹⁴Wail, O ships of Tarshish,

for your harbor has been destroyed!

¹⁵At 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.”

¹⁷And 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.

¹⁸Yet 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 clothing.