Isaiah 23 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 A message about Tyre. Howl, people on the ships of Tarshish! Tyre has been destroyed—nothing is left of the houses and the harbor. They heard the news from the people of Cyprus.
1 The burden of Tyre. Howl, you ships of Tarshish! For it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in. From the land of Kittim it is revealed to them.
2 Stay shocked into silence, people of the coastlands, merchants of Sidon, and sailors.
2 Be still, you inhabitants of the coast, you whom the merchants of Sidon that pass over the sea have replenished.
3 Egyptian grain came across the wide oceans. The Nile's harvest was what made Tyre money; she was the merchant to the nations.
3 On great waters, the seed of the Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, was her revenue. She was the market of nations.
4 Feel the shame, Sidon! For the fortress of the sea says, “I have no children, having never been in labor or given birth. I have not brought up young men or brought up young women.”
4 Be ashamed, Sidon; for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying, “I have not travailed, nor given birth, neither have I nourished young men, nor brought up virgins.”
5 When the news about Tyre reaches Egypt they will be in agony.
5 When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish at the report of Tyre.
6 Sail across to Tarshish! Howl, people of the coastlands!
6 Pass over to Tarshish! Wail, you inhabitants of the coast!
7 Is this really your triumphant city, whose beginnings are from the distant past, who has sent out people to colonize faraway places?
7 Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days, whose feet carried her far away to travel?
8 Who planned this attack on Tyre? Tyre, who created kingdoms, whose merchants were princes, whose traders were honored around the world!
8 Who has planned this against Tyre, the giver of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are the honorable of the earth?
9 The Lord Almighty planned it, to humble its pride in all its glory, and to bring down all who receive worldly honor.
9 Yahweh of Armies has planned it, to stain the pride of all glory, to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth.
10 Work your land, people of Tarshish, as they do beside the Nile, for you don't have a harbor anymore.
10 Pass through your land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish. There is no restraint any more.
11 The Lord held his hand out over the sea and shook kingdoms. He has condemned Phoenicia, giving the order to destroy their fortresses.
11 He has stretched out his hand over the sea. He has shaken the kingdoms. Yahweh has ordered the destruction of Canaan’s strongholds.
12 He said, “Don't celebrate any more, mistreated virgin daughter of Sidon. Go and sail over to Cyprus—however, even there you won't find rest.”
12 He said, “You shall rejoice no more, you oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon. Arise, pass over to Kittim. Even there you will have no rest.”
13 Look at the country of the Babylonians, this people that are not as they used to be! The Assyrians have turned it into a place for desert animals. They set up their siege towers, they demolished the fortresses, and ruined the country.
13 Behold, the land of the Chaldeans. This people didn’t exist. The Assyrians founded it for those who dwell in the wilderness. They set up their towers. They overthrew its palaces. They made it a ruin.
14 Howl, people on the ships of Tarshish because your fortress is destroyed!
14 Howl, you ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold is laid waste!
15 At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, a king's lifetime, as it were. But at the end of these seventy years, Tyre will be like the song about a prostitute,
15 It will come to pass in that day that Tyre will be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king. After the end of seventy years it will be to Tyre like in the song of the prostitute.
16 “Take a lyre and walk around the city, forgotten prostitute! Play and sing so people will remember you!”
16 Take a harp; go about the city, you prostitute that has been forgotten. Make sweet melody. Sing many songs, that you may be remembered.
17 After seventy years, the Lord will restore Tyre. But then she will go back to hiring herself out as a prostitute, selling herself to all the kingdoms of the world.
17 It will happen after the end of seventy years that Yahweh will visit Tyre. She will return to her wages, and will play the prostitute with all the kingdoms of the world on the surface of the earth.
18 However, her profits and what she earns will be consecrated to the Lord. They won't be kept or saved up, for her business earnings will go to those who worship the Lord, to provide them with plenty of food and good clothes.
18 Her merchandise and her wages will be holiness to Yahweh. It will not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise will be for those who dwell before Yahweh, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.
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)