Isaiah 23:1-14

The Oracle concerning Tyre

23¹ The oracle concerning Tyre. Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor! From the land of Cyprus[1] it is revealed to them. ² Be still, O inhabitants of the coast; the merchants of Sidon, who cross the sea, have filled you. ³ And on many waters your revenue was the grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile; you were the merchant of the nations. ⁴ Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying: "I have neither labored nor given birth, I have neither reared young men nor brought up young women." ⁵ When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish[2] over the report about Tyre. ⁶ Cross over to Tarshish; wail, O inhabitants of the coast! ⁷ Is this your exultant city whose origin is from days of old, whose feet carried her to settle far away? ⁸ Who has purposed this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth? ⁹ The Lord of hosts has purposed it, to defile the pompous pride of all glory,[3] to dishonor all the honored of the earth. ¹⁰ Cross over your land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish; there is no restraint anymore. ¹¹ He has stretched out his hand over the sea; he has shaken the kingdoms; the Lord has given command concerning Canaan to destroy its strongholds. ¹² And he said: "You will no more exult, O oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon; arise, cross over to Cyprus, even there you will have no rest." ¹³ Behold the land of the Chaldeans! This is the people that was not;[4] Assyria destined it for wild beasts. They erected their siege towers, they stripped her palaces bare, they made her a ruin. ¹⁴ Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold is laid waste