Isaiah
Chapter 23
Against Tyre and Sidon
An oracle concerning Tyre:Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is destroyed! When you return from Kittim you will hear the news and wonder.
Keep silent, merchants of Sidon, all you inhabitants of the coast. Your messengers passed over the sea,
across the wide oceans; the grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, was your income and you were the fair of the nations.
Be ashamed, O Sidon, refuge on the sea! The queen of the sea wonders: “Have I not had labor pains and brought forth children? Have I not nourished young men and brought up daughters?”
Those in Egypt will be in anguish when they learn the fate of Tyre.
You who dwell on the coastlands, wail as you pass over to Tarshish.
Is this the ancient city, your pride, whose feet had carried her afar to found colonies in distant lands?
Who has planned this against Tyre, the imperial city whose merchants are princes, whose traders are among the great ones of the world?
It is the Lord Sabaoth who has planned it, to bring down her proud majesty, to humble the great ones of the world.
Till your land like the valley of the Nile O Daughter of Tarshish, you have no more shipbuilding yard.
The Lord has stretched out his hand over the sea to make kingdoms tremble. He has ordered the destruction of the fortresses of Phoenicia.
He has said, “Rejoice no longer, ravished virgin daughter of Sidon. Arise, pass over to Cyprus; even there you will find no rest.”
Look at the land of the Chaldeans, a people now of no account. The Assyrians have destined the land to be a place for wild beasts. They have erected siege towers and demolished her bastions, razed her palaces, completely reducing her to ruins.
Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for your haven is destroyed.
Tyre, Forgotten and Restored
On that day, Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, roughly the length of a king’s life. Then, at the end of seventy years, it will be like in a prostitute’s song for Tyre:
Take a harp, go about the city, forgotten prostitute, sing your sweetest song, play your best melody, that they may remember you.
After seventy years, the Lord will visit Tyre. She will return to her trade and once again be unfaithful to all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.
But her wages and activities as a prostitute will be dedicated to the Lord, instead of being stored or hoarded. Her profits will go to those who live in the presence of the Lord so that they may have abundant food and beautiful clothes.
Commentaries
Against Tyre and Sidon.
This oracle, which mentions both Tyre and Sidon, is aimed at the Phoenicians overall. They had prospered greatly economically, which also gave them political influence. Tyre’s location allowed it to benefit from trade, which it used to oppress other peoples. There is no detailed account of Tyre’s fall, but there is a record of the times it was threatened and partially destroyed. The complete destruction did not happen until the 4th century B.C., with Alexander the Great’s arrival.
Tyre, Forgotten and Restored.
There is also a message of hope for Tyre in its rebuilding and return to its glorious past. Compared to a prostitute who has lost her youthful charms, the prophet predicts a change of fortune after a long period of decline.