Isa 23

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 Be still, you inhabitants of the coast, you whom the merchants of Sidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished. 3 And on great waters the seed of the Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, was her revenue; and she was the mart of nations. 4 Be you ashamed, O Sidon; for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying, I have not travailed, nor brought forth, neither have I nourished young men, nor brought up virgins. 5 When the report comes to Egypt, they shall be sorely pained at the report of Tyre. 6 Pass you over to Tarshish; wail, you inhabitants of the coast. 7 Is this your joyous [city], whose antiquity is of ancient days, whose feet carried her afar off to sojourn? 8 Who has purposed this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honorable of the earth? 9 YHWH of hosts has purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth. 10 Pass through your land as the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish; there is no restraint any more. 11 He has stretched out his hand over the sea, he has shaken the kingdoms: YHWH has given commandment concerning Canaan, to destroy its strongholds. 12 And he said, You shall no more rejoice, O you oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon: arise, pass over to Kittim; even there shall you have no rest. 13 Behold, the land of the Chaldeans: this people was not; the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness; they set up their towers; they overthrew the palaces thereof; they made it a ruin. 14 Howl, you ships of Tarshish; for your stronghold is laid waste. 15 And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years it shall be to Tyre as in the song of the harlot. 16 Take a harp, go about the city, you harlot that have been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that you may be remembered. 17 And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that YHWH will visit Tyre, and she shall return to her hire, and shall play the harlot with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth. 18 And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to YHWH: it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before YHWH, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.