Jesaja 23:2

2 Zwijgt, gij inwoners des eilands! gij, die de kooplieden van Sidon, over zee varende, vervulden,

Jesaja 23:2 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 23:2

Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle
Either the isles of Chittim, or other islands that traded with Tyre, the singular being put for the plural, called upon to grieve and mourn, because the city of their merchandise was destroyed, as Kimchi; or of Tyre itself, which being situated at some distance from the shore, was an island itself, until it was joined to the continent by Alexander ^F17; and even old Tyre might be so called, it being usual in Scripture to call places by the seashore isles; and besides, old Tyre included in it new Tyre, the island, as Pliny ^F18 suggests; who are instructed to be silent as mourners, and to cease from the hurries of business, which they would be obliged to, and not boast of their power and wealth, as they had formerly done, or attempt to defend themselves, which would be in vain:

thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass over the sea, have
replenished;
Zidon was a very ancient city of Phoenicia, more ancient than Tyre; for Tyre was a colony of the Zidonians, and built by them, and so might be said to be replenished by them with men from the first, as it also was with mariners, ( Ezekiel 27:8 ) and likewise with merchants and wares, they being a trading and seafaring people; wherefore they are spoken of as merchants, and as passing over the sea: or this may be understood of the isles replenished with goods by the merchants of Tyre and Zidon, but now no more, and therefore called to mourning.

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FOOTNOTES:

F17 Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 19.
F18 Ibid.

Jesaja 23:2 In-Context

1 De last van Tyrus. Huilt, gij schepen van Tarsis! want zij is verwoest, dat er geen huis meer is, dat niemand er meer ingaat; uit het land Chittim is het aan hen openbaar geworden.

2 Zwijgt, gij inwoners des eilands! gij, die de kooplieden van Sidon, over zee varende, vervulden,

3 En wiens inkomst was het zaad van Sichor over de grote wateren, de oogst der rivier; en zij was de markt der heidenen.

4 Word beschaamd, o Sidon! want de zee spreekt, ja, de sterkte der zee, zeggende: Ik heb geen barensnood gehad, ik heb ook niet gebaard, en ik heb geen jongelingen groot gemaakt, en geen jonge dochters opgebracht

5 Gelijk als geweest is de tijding van Egypte, zal men ook in weedom zijn, als men van Tyrus horen zal.