New Revised Standard NRS
The Message Bible MSG
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.
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Wail, ships of Tarshish, your strong seaports all in ruins! When the ships returned from Cyprus, they saw the destruction.
2 Be still, O inhabitants of the coast, O merchants of Sidon, your messengers crossed over the sea
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Hold your tongue, you who live on the seacoast, merchants of Sidon. Your people sailed the deep seas, buying and selling,
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.
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Making money on wheat from Shihor, grown along the Nile - multinational broker in grains!
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.
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Hang your head in shame, Sidon. The Sea speaks up, the powerhouse of the ocean says, "I've never had labor pains, never had a baby, never reared children to adulthood, Never gave life, never worked with life. It was all numbers, dead numbers, profit and loss.
5 When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish over the report about Tyre.
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When Egypt gets the report on Tyre, what wailing! what wringing of hands! Nothing Left Here to Be Proud Of
6 Cross over to Tarshish— wail, O inhabitants of the coast!
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Visit Tarshish, you who live on the seacoast. Take a good, long look and wail - yes, cry buckets of tears!
7 Is this your exultant city whose origin is from days of old, whose feet carried her to settle far away?
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Is this the city you remember as energetic and alive, bustling with activity, this historic old city, Expanding throughout the globe, buying and selling all over the world?
8 Who has planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth?
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And who is behind the collapse of Tyre, the Tyre that controlled the world markets? Tyre's merchants were the business tycoons. Tyre's traders called all the shots.
9 The Lord of hosts has planned it— to defile the pride of all glory, to shame all the honored of the earth.
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God-of-the-Angel-Armies ordered the crash to show the sordid backside of pride and puncture the inflated reputations.
10 Cross over to your own land, O ships of Tarshish; this is a harbor no more.
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Sail for home, O ships of Tarshish. There are no docks left in this harbor.
11 He has stretched out his hand over the sea, he has shaken the kingdoms; the Lord has given command concerning Canaan to destroy its fortresses.
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God reached out to the sea and sea traders, threw the sea kingdoms into turmoil. God ordered the destruction of the seacoast cities, the centers of commerce.
12 He said: You will exult no longer, O oppressed virgin daughter Sidon; rise, cross over to Cyprus— even there you will have no rest.
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God said, "There's nothing left here to be proud of, bankrupt and bereft Sidon. Do you want to make a new start in Cyprus? Don't count on it. Nothing there will work out for you either."
13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans! This is the people; it was not Assyria. They destined Tyre for wild animals. They erected their siege towers, they tore down her palaces, they made her a ruin.
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Look at what happened to Babylon: There's nothing left of it. Assyria turned it into a desert, into a refuge for wild dogs and stray cats. They brought in their big siege engines, tore down the buildings, and left nothing behind but rubble.
14 Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for your fortress is destroyed
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Wail, ships of Tarshish, your strong seaports all in ruins
15 From that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the lifetime of one king. At the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song about the prostitute:
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For the next seventy years, a king's lifetime, Tyre will be forgotten. At the end of the seventy years, Tyre will stage a comeback, but it will be the comeback of a worn-out whore, as in the song:
16 Take a harp, go about the city, you forgotten prostitute! Make sweet melody, sing many songs, that you may be remembered.
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"Take a harp, circle the city, unremembered whore. Sing your old songs, your many old songs. Maybe someone will remember."
17 At the end of seventy years, the Lord will visit Tyre, and she will return to her trade, and will prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.
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At the end of the seventy years, God will look in on Tyre. She'll go back to her old whoring trade, selling herself to the highest bidder, doing anything with anyone - promiscuous with all the kingdoms of earth - for a fee.
18 Her merchandise and her wages will be dedicated to the Lord; her profits will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who live in the presence of the Lord.
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But everything she gets, all the money she takes in, will be turned over to God. It will not be put in banks. Her profits will be put to the use of God-Aware, God-Serving-People, providing plenty of food and the best of clothing.
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.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.