Isaiah 23:16

16 Thou whore, given to forgetting, take an harp, compass the city; sing thou well, use thou oft a song, that mind be of thee. (O whore, now forgotten, take up a harp, and go around the city; sing thou well a song, and sing thou it often, so that thou will be remembered again.)

Isaiah 23:16 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 23:16

Take a harp, go about the city
As harlots used to do, that by their music, both vocal and instrumental, they might allure men into their company to commit fornication with them; so Tyre is directed to, or rather this is a prophecy that she should take very artful and ensnaring methods to restore her commerce and merchandise:

thou harlot that hast been forgotten; (See Gill on Isaiah 23:15):

make sweet melody;
or, "do well by striking" ^F11; that is, the harp in her hand; strike it well with art and skill, so as to make melody, and give pleasure:

sing many songs;
or, "multiply a song" ^F12; sing one after another, till the point is carried aimed at:

that thou mayest be remembered;
men may took at thee again, and trade with thee as formerly, who had been so long forgotten and neglected.

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FOOTNOTES:

F11 (Ngn ybyjh) "benefac pulsando", Junius; "belle pulsa", Piscator.
F12 (ryv ybrh) "multiplica cantum", Piscator.

Isaiah 23:16 In-Context

14 Yell, ye ships of the sea (Yell, ye ships of Tarshish), for your strength be destroyed

15 And it shall be, in that day, thou, Tyre, shalt be in forgetting by seventy years, as the days of one king; but after seventy years, as the song of a whore shall be to Tyre. (And it shall be, from that day, O Tyre, thou shalt be forgotten for seventy years, like the days, or the life, of one king; and then after seventy years, Tyre shall be like the whore in the song:)

16 Thou whore, given to forgetting, take an harp, compass the city; sing thou well, use thou oft a song, that mind be of thee. (O whore, now forgotten, take up a harp, and go around the city; sing thou well a song, and sing thou it often, so that thou will be remembered again.)

17 And it shall be, after seventy years, the Lord shall visit Tyre, and shall bring it again to his hire; and again it shall be, when it shall do fornication with all [the] realms of [the] earth, on the face of [the] earth. (And so it shall be, that after seventy years, the Lord shall visit Tyre, and she shall hire herself out again; and it shall be, that once again she shall do fornication with all the kingdoms of the earth, upon the face of the earth.)

18 And the merchandises thereof and the meeds thereof shall be hallowed to the Lord; they shall not be hid, neither shall be laid up; for why the merchandise thereof shall be to them that dwell before the Lord (for its merchandise shall be for those who worship the Lord), (so) that they eat to fullness, and be clothed till to eldness.