Isaiah 23:2

2 Be still, O inhabitants of the coast, O merchants of Sidon, your messengers crossed over the sea

Isaiah 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.


FOOTNOTES:

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

Isaiah 23:2 In-Context

1 The oracle concerning Tyre. Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for your fortress is destroyed. When they came in from Cyprus they learned of it.
2 Be still, O inhabitants of the coast, O merchants of Sidon, your messengers crossed over the sea
3 and were on the mighty waters; your revenue was the grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile; you were the merchant of the nations.
4 Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken, the fortress of the sea, saying: "I have neither labored nor given birth, I have neither reared young men nor brought up young women.
5 When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish over the report about Tyre.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Q Ms: MT [crossing over the sea, they replenished you]
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.