Isaiah 23:1-10

1 A prophecy about Tzor: Howl, you "Tarshish" ships, because the harbor is destroyed! On returning from Kittim, they discover they cannot enter it.

2 Silence, you who live on the coast, you who have been enriched by the merchants of Tzidon crossing the sea.

3 By the great water the grain of Shichor, the harvest of the Nile, brought you profits. She was marketplace for the nations.

4 Shame, Tzidon, for the sea speaks; the fortress of the sea says, "I no longer have labor pains or bear children, yet I have raised neither boys nor girls.

5 When the report reaches Egypt, they will be in anguish at the fate of Tzor.

6 Cross over to Tarshish! Howl, you who live on the coast!

7 Is this your boisterous city, whose feet long ago in antiquity carried her off to found distant colonies?

8 Who planned this against Tzor, the city that once bestowed crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are honored throughout the earth?

9 ADONAI-Tzva'ot planned it to break the pride of all the arrogant, to humiliate all those who are honored everywhere on earth.

10 People of Tarshish! Nothing restricts you now. You can flow freely over your land just like the Nile River.

Isaiah 23:1-10 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 23

This chapter gives an account both of the desolation and restoration of Tyre, an ancient city of Phoenicia. Its desolation is described as so complete, that a house was not left in it, Isa 23:1 and by the fewness and stillness of the inhabitants of it, with which it had been replenished, it having been a mart of nations, Isa 23:2,3 and by the shame and pain Zidon, a neighbouring city, was put into, on account of it, Isa 23:4,5 and by the removal of its inhabitants to other places, Isa 23:6,7,12 all which is attributed to the counsel, purpose, and commandment of God, to destroy it; whose view was to stain their pride, and bring them into contempt, Isa 23:8-11 the means and instruments made use of to this purpose were the Assyrians or Chaldeans, Isa 23:13 and its desolation is further aggravated by the loss of its trade; hence the merchants of other countries are called to mourning, Isa 23:1,14 the date and duration of this desolation were seventy years, Isa 23:15 after which it should be restored, and its merchandise and commerce with all the nations of the earth be revived again, Isa 23:15-18.