Isaiah 23:10

10 Cross over your [own] land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish; there is no longer a harbor.

Isaiah 23:10 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 23:10

Pass through thy land as a river, O daughter of Tarshish,
&c.] Or, "of the sea", as the Vulgate Latin; meaning Tyre, which was situated in the sea, and did, as it were, spring from it, and was fortified by it, and supported by ships of merchandise on it, from various places; but now, being about to be destroyed, the inhabitants of it are called upon to pass through it, and get out of it as fast as they could, even as swiftly as a river runs, and in great abundance or multitudes. Kimchi thinks the Tyrians are bid to pass to the daughter of Tarshish, that is, to Tarshish itself, to make their escape out of their own land, and flee thither for safety; this the accents will not admit of, there being an "athnach" upon the word "river"; rather the merchants of Tarshish, that were in Tyre, are exhorted to depart to their own land with all possible haste, lest they should be involved in its ruin; though the Targum inclines to the other sense,

``pass out of thy land, as the waters of a river flee to a province of the sea:''

[there is] no more strength;
in Tyre, to defend themselves against the enemy, to protect their trade, and the merchants that traded with them; or, "no more girdle" F5; about it; no more girt about with walls, ramparts, and other fortifications, or with soldiers and shipping, or with the sea, with which it was encompassed, while an island, but now no more, being joined to the continent by the enemy. Some think, because girdles were a part of merchandise, ( Proverbs 31:24 ) , that this is said to express the meanness and poverty of the place, that there was not so much as a girdle left in it; rather that it was stripped of its power and authority, of which the girdle was a sign; see ( Isaiah 22:21 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F5 (dwe xzm Nya) "nulla est zona amplius", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "non est cingulum amplius", Cocceius.

Isaiah 23:10 In-Context

8 Who has planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants [were] princes, her traders [the] honored ones of [the] earth?
9 Yahweh of hosts has planned it: to defile [the] pride of all glory, to humble all [the] honored ones of [the] earth.
10 Cross over your [own] land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish; there is no longer a harbor.
11 He has stretched his hand out over the sea; he has made kingdoms shake. Yahweh has commanded concerning Canaan to destroy her fortresses.
12 And he said, "You will not {continue} to exult, crushed one, {virgin} daughter of Sidon. Arise, cross over [to] Cyprus! There will be no rest for you even there."

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Hebrew "waistband" is emended to "harbor" by transposing two consonants
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.