Isaiah 23

1An oracle concerning Tyre: Wail, ships of Tarshish, for it is destroyed, without house or harbor. From the land of Kittim it is revealed to them.

2Be silent, inhabitants of the coastland; the merchant of Sidon, crossing the sea, has filled you.

3On many waters was the grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, her revenue; and she became the merchant of nations.

4Be ashamed, Sidon, for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying, “I have not been in labor, and I have not given birth, and I have not raised young men or exalted virgins.”

5When the report comes to Egypt, they will writhe at the report of Tyre.

6Cross over to Tarshish; wail, inhabitants of the coastland.

7Is this your exultant city, whose origin is from days of old, whose feet carried her far away to sojourn?

8Who has planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are the honored ones of the earth?

9Yahweh of hosts has purposed it: to defile the pride of all beauty, to humble all the honored ones of the earth.

10Pass through your land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish; there is no restraint anymore.

11He has stretched out his hand over the sea; he has made kingdoms tremble. Yahweh has commanded concerning Canaan, to destroy her strongholds.

12He said, “You will exult no more, oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon. Arise, cross over to Kittim; even there you will find no rest.”

13Look at the land of the Chaldeans—this is the people that was not; Assyria appointed it for desert creatures. They set up their siege towers, they stripped her palaces bare, they made her a ruin.

14Wail, ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold has been destroyed.

15And in that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:

16Take a lyre, go about the city, forgotten prostitute; play skillfully, sing many songs, so that you may be remembered.

17And it will happen at the end of seventy years that Yahweh will attend to Tyre, and she will return to her wages and prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the earth on the face of the earth.

18And her merchandise and her wages will be holy to Yahweh; they will not be stored up or hoarded, for her merchandise will be for those who dwell before Yahweh, for eating to satisfaction and for durable clothing.