Yeshayah 23:10

10 Pass through thy land like the Nile, O Bat Tarshish; there is no more restraint.

Yeshayah 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.

Yeshayah 23:10 In-Context

8 Who hath devised this against Tzor, the crowning city, whose sokharim (merchants) are sarim (princes), whose traders are the nikhbadei Eretz (honored of the Earth).

9 Hashem Tzva’os hath devised it, to demean the ga’on (pride) of every beauty, and to humble all the nikhbadei Eretz.

10 Pass through thy land like the Nile, O Bat Tarshish; there is no more restraint.

11 He stretched out His Yad over the yam, He shook the mamlakhot (kingdoms); Hashem hath given a commandment against Kena’an, to destroy her ma’a’uzim (fortresses).

12 And He said, Thou shalt no more exult, O thou oppressed Betulah, Bat Tzidon; arise, pass over to Kittim [Cyprus]; there also shalt thou have no rest.