Isaiah 23:6

6 Pass over to Tarshish, wail, O inhabitants of the coast!

Isaiah 23:6 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 23:6

Pass ye over to Tarshish
Either to Tartessus in Spain, or to Tarsus in Cilicia, which lay over against them, and to which they might transport themselves, families, and substance, with greater ease; or "to a province of the sea", as the Targum, any other seaport; the Septuagint says to Carthage, which was a colony of the Tyrians; and hither the Assyrian F21 historians say they did transport themselves; though Kimchi thinks this is spoken, not to the Tyrians, but to the merchants that traded with them, to go elsewhere with their merchandise, since their goods could no more be disposed of in that city as usual.

Howl, ye inhabitants of the isle:
of Tyre, as in ( Isaiah 23:2 ) or of every isle, as Aben Ezra, which traded here, because now their commerce was at an end; so Kimchi.


FOOTNOTES:

F21 Apud Hieron. in loc.

Isaiah 23:6 In-Context

4 Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying: "I have neither travailed nor given birth, I have neither reared young men nor brought up virgins.
5 When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish over the report about Tyre.
6 Pass over to Tarshish, wail, O inhabitants of the coast!
7 Is this your exultant city whose origin is from days of old, whose feet carried her to settle afar?
8 Who has purposed this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth?
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the 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.