1 This is the burden against Tyre: Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor. Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus. 2 Be silent, O dwellers of the coastland, you merchants of Sidon, whose traders have crossed the sea. 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 Cultivate 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 — 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 clothing.
Isaiah · Berean Standard Bible
Isaiah 23 Berean Standard Bible
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Cross references (18)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Joel 3:4–8; Genesis 10:4; Amos 1:9–10; Jeremiah 25:22; Isaiah 2:16
- 2 Isaiah 47:5; Ezekiel 27:8–36; Ezekiel 28:2; Psalm 46:10; Isaiah 41:1
- 3 1 Chronicles 13:5; Jeremiah 2:18; Ezekiel 27:3–23; Isaiah 23:8; Joel 3:5
- 4 Revelation 18:23; Genesis 10:15; Jeremiah 47:3–4; Ezekiel 26:3–6; Hosea 9:11–14
- 5 Joshua 2:9–11; Exodus 15:14–16; Ezekiel 28:19; Ezekiel 27:29–36; Ezekiel 26:15–21
- 6 Isaiah 23:12; Isaiah 21:15; Isaiah 16:7; Isaiah 23:10; Isaiah 23:1–2
- 7 Isaiah 22:2; Joshua 19:29; Ecclesiastes 10:7; Isaiah 47:1–2; Isaiah 32:13
- 8 Ezekiel 28:2–6; Isaiah 10:8; Jeremiah 50:44–45; Deuteronomy 29:24–28; Isaiah 36:9
- 9 James 4:6; Isaiah 13:11; Job 40:11–12; Isaiah 2:11; Daniel 4:37
- 10 1 Samuel 28:20; Isaiah 23:14; Job 12:21; Psalm 18:32; Romans 5:6
- 11 Zechariah 9:3–4; Exodus 14:21; Mark 11:17; Hosea 12:7–8; Exodus 15:8–10
- 12 Revelation 18:22; Ezekiel 26:13–14; Isaiah 23:1–2; Isaiah 47:1; Isaiah 23:7
- 13 Habakkuk 1:6; Isaiah 13:19; Daniel 4:30; 2 Kings 20:12; Ezekiel 29:18
- 14 Isaiah 23:1; Ezekiel 27:25–30; Isaiah 2:16; Isaiah 23:6; Revelation 18:11–19
- 15 Jeremiah 25:22; Hosea 2:15; Jeremiah 27:3–7; Daniel 8:21; Jeremiah 29:10
- 16 Proverbs 7:10–12; Jeremiah 30:14
- 17 Nahum 3:4; Ezekiel 27:6–36; Revelation 19:2; Ezekiel 16:26; Jeremiah 29:10
- 18 Psalm 72:10; Deuteronomy 26:12–14; Philippians 4:17–18; Galatians 6:6; Deuteronomy 12:18–19
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
For in the Prophet Isaiah it is thus found: "Howl, ye ships of Carthage." But in Ezekiel by some interpreters the word is translated Carthage, by some Tarshish: and from this diversity it can be understood that the same which was called Carthage, is called Tharsus.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)