Isaiah 23

Revised Geneva Translation

23 The burden of Tyre. Howl you ships of Tarshish! The land of Kittim, it is revealed to them.

² Be still, you who dwell in the isles. The merchants of Sidon, such as pass over the sea, have replenished you.

³ The seed of Nile, by the abundance of waters, the harvest of the river was her revenue and she was a marketplace of the nations.

⁴ Be ashamed, you Sidon! For the sea has spoken, the strength of the sea, saying, “I have neither labored, nor brought forth children, nor nourished young men, nor brought up virgins.”

⁵ When the fame comes to the Egyptians, they shall be sorry concerning the rumor of Tyre.

⁶ Go over to Tarshish. Howl, you who dwell in the isles!

⁷ Is not this your glorious city, her antiquity of ancient days? Her own feet shall lead her far away to be a sojourner.

⁸ Who has decreed this against Tyre, who crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are the nobles of the world?

⁹ The LORD of Hosts has decreed this to stain the pride of all glory and to bring to contempt all those who are glorious on the Earth.

¹⁰ Pass through your land like a stream, O daughter of Tarshish! There is no more strength.

¹¹ He stretched out His Hand upon the sea. He shook the kingdoms. The LORD has given a Commandment concerning the place of merchandise, to destroy its power.

¹² And He said, “No more shall you rejoice, O oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon! Rise up. Go out to Kittim. Even there you shall have no rest.”

¹³ Behold the land of the Chaldeans. This was no people. Assyria founded it by the inhabitants of the wilderness. They set up its towers. They raised its palaces. And He brought it to ruin.

¹⁴ Howl you ships of Tarshish! For your strength is destroyed!

¹⁵ And on that day, Tyre shall be forgotten for seventy years (according to the years of one king). At the end of seventy years, Tyre shall sing as a harlot,

¹⁶ “Take a harp and go around the city, you harlot who has been forgotten. Make sweet melody, sing more songs, so that you may be remembered.”

¹⁷ And at the end of seventy years, the LORD shall visit Tyre. And it shall return to its wages and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the Earth in the world.

¹⁸ Yet, her profit and her wages shall be holy to the LORD. They shall not be laid up or kept in storage. But her merchandise shall be for those who dwell before the LORD, to eat sufficiently and to have durable clothing.