Isaiah 23:16

16 Take a harp and walk the streets, you forgotten harlot. Make sweet melody and sing your songs so you 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.


FOOTNOTES:

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

Isaiah 23:16 In-Context

14 Wail, you ships of Tarshish, for your harbor is destroyed!
15 For seventy years, the length of a king’s life, Tyre will be forgotten. But then the city will come back to life as in the song about the prostitute:
16 Take a harp and walk the streets, you forgotten harlot. Make sweet melody and sing your songs so you will be remembered again.
17 Yes, after seventy years the LORD will revive Tyre. But she will be no different than she was before. She will again be a prostitute to all kingdoms around the world.
18 But in the end her profits will be given to the LORD . Her wealth will not be hoarded but will provide good food and fine clothing for the LORD ’s priests.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.