Bible Gateway passage: Isaiah 23 - New International Version (2024)

A Prophecy Against Tyre

23A prophecy against Tyre:^(A)

Wail,^(B) you ships^(C) of Tarshish!^(D)
For Tyre is destroyed^(E)
and left without house or harbor.
From the land of Cyprus
word has come to them.

²Be silent,^(F) you people of the island
and you merchants^(G) of Sidon,^(H)
whom the seafarers have enriched.
³On the great waters
came the grain of the Shihor;^(I)
the harvest of the Nile^[a](J) was the revenue of Tyre,^(K)
and she became the marketplace of the nations.

⁴Be ashamed, Sidon,^(L) and you fortress of the sea,
for the sea has spoken:
“I have neither been in labor nor given birth;^(M)
I have neither reared sons nor brought up daughters.”
⁵When word comes to Egypt,
they will be in anguish^(N) at the report from Tyre.^(O)

⁶Cross over to Tarshish;^(P)
wail, you people of the island.
⁷Is this your city of revelry,^(Q)
the old, old city,
whose feet have taken her
to settle in far-off lands?
⁸Who planned this against Tyre,
the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants^(R) are princes,
whose traders^(S) are renowned in the earth?
⁹The Lord Almighty planned^(T) it,
to bring down^(U) her pride in all her splendor
and to humble^(V) all who are renowned^(W) on the earth.

¹⁰Till^[b] your land as they do along the Nile,
Daughter Tarshish,
for you no longer have a harbor.
¹¹The Lord has stretched out his hand^(X) over the sea
and made its kingdoms tremble.^(Y)
He has given an order concerning Phoenicia
that her fortresses be destroyed.^(Z)
12He said, “No more of your reveling,^(AA)
Virgin Daughter^(AB) Sidon, now crushed!

“Up, cross over to Cyprus;^(AC)
even there you will find no rest.”
¹³Look at the land of the Babylonians,^[c](AD)
this people that is now of no account!
The Assyrians^(AE) have made it
a place for desert creatures;^(AF)
they raised up their siege towers,^(AG)
they stripped its fortresses bare
and turned it into a ruin.^(AH)

¹⁴Wail, you ships^(AI) of Tarshish;^(AJ)
your fortress is destroyed!^(AK)

¹⁵At that time Tyre^(AL) will be forgotten for seventy years,^(AM) the span of a king’s life. But at the end of these seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:

¹⁶“Take up a harp, walk through the city,
you forgotten prostitute;^(AN)
play the harp well, sing many a song,
so that you will be remembered.”

¹⁷At the end of seventy years,^(AO) the Lord will deal with Tyre. She will return to her lucrative prostitution^(AP) and will ply her trade with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.^{(AQ) 18}Yet her profit and her earnings will be set apart for the Lord;^(AR) they will not be stored up or hoarded. Her profits will go to those who live before the Lord,^(AS) for abundant food and fine clothes.^(AT)

Footnotes

1. Isaiah 23:3 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls Sidon, / who cross over the sea; / your envoys ³are on the great waters. / The grain of the Shihor, / the harvest of the Nile,
2. Isaiah 23:10 Dead Sea Scrolls and some Septuagint manuscripts; Masoretic Text Go through
3. Isaiah 23:13 Or Chaldeans

Cross references

1. Isaiah 23:1 : Jos 19:29; 1Ki 5:1; Jer 47:4; Joel 3:4-8; Am 1:9-10
2. Isaiah 23:1 : S Isa 13:6
3. Isaiah 23:1 : S 1Ki 10:22
4. Isaiah 23:1 : S Ge 10:4; Isa 2:16 fn
5. Isaiah 23:1 : S Ge 1:2; Eze 26:4
6. Isaiah 23:2 : S Job 2:13
7. Isaiah 23:2 : Eze 27:5-24
8. Isaiah 23:2 : Jdg 1:31
9. Isaiah 23:3 : S Ge 41:5
10. Isaiah 23:3 : S Isa 19:7
11. Isaiah 23:3 : S Ps 83:7
12. Isaiah 23:4 : S Ge 10:15, 19
13. Isaiah 23:4 : Isa 54:1
14. Isaiah 23:5 : Eze 30:9
15. Isaiah 23:5 : Eze 26:17-18
16. Isaiah 23:6 : S Ge 10:4
17. Isaiah 23:7 : ver 12; S Isa 5:14; S 21:5; 32:13; Eze 26:13
18. Isaiah 23:8 : Na 3:16
19. Isaiah 23:8 : Eze 28:5; Rev 18:23
20. Isaiah 23:9 : S Isa 14:24
21. Isaiah 23:9 : S Job 40:11
22. Isaiah 23:9 : S Isa 13:11
23. Isaiah 23:9 : Isa 5:13; 9:15; Eze 27:3
24. Isaiah 23:11 : S Ex 14:21
25. Isaiah 23:11 : S Ps 46:6
26. Isaiah 23:11 : ver 14; Isa 25:2; Eze 26:4; Zec 9:3-4
27. Isaiah 23:12 : S ver 7; Rev 18:22
28. Isaiah 23:12 : Isa 37:22; 47:1; Jer 14:17; 46:11; La 2:13; Zep 3:14; Zec 2:10
29. Isaiah 23:12 : S Ge 10:4
30. Isaiah 23:13 : Isa 43:14; Jer 51:12
31. Isaiah 23:13 : Isa 10:5
32. Isaiah 23:13 : S Ps 74:14; Isa 18:6
33. Isaiah 23:13 : S 2Ki 25:1
34. Isaiah 23:13 : Isa 10:7
35. Isaiah 23:14 : S 1Ki 10:22
36. Isaiah 23:14 : S Ge 10:4; Isa 2:16 fn
37. Isaiah 23:14 : S ver 11
38. Isaiah 23:15 : Jer 25:22
39. Isaiah 23:15 : S Ps 90:10
40. Isaiah 23:16 : Pr 7:10
41. Isaiah 23:17 : S Ps 90:10
42. Isaiah 23:17 : Dt 23:17-18; Eze 16:26; Na 3:4; Rev 17:1; 18:3, 9
43. Isaiah 23:17 : Jer 25:26
44. Isaiah 23:18 : Ex 28:36; S 39:30; Jos 6:17-19; Ps 72:10
45. Isaiah 23:18 : Isa 18:7; 60:5-9; 61:6; Mic 4:13
46. Isaiah 23:18 : Am 1:9-10; Zec 14:1, 14