Text -- Isaiah 23:13-18 (NET)

23:13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans, these people who have lost their identity! The Assyrians have made it a home for wild animals. They erected their siege towers, demolished its fortresses, and turned it into a heap of ruins. 23:14 Wail, you large ships, ships, for your fortress is destroyed! 23:15 At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the typical life span of a king. At the end of seventy years Tyre will try to attract attention again, like the prostitute in the popular song: 23:16 “Take the harp, go through the city, forgotten prostitute! Play it well, play lots of songs, so you’ll be noticed!” 23:17 At the end of seventy years the Lord will revive Tyre. She will start making money again by selling her services to all the earth’s kingdoms. 23:18 Her profits and earnings will be set apart for the Lord. They will not be stored up or accumulated, for her profits will be given to those who live in the Lord’s presence and will be used to purchase large quantities of food and beautiful clothes.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Isa 23:13

¹ tn Heb “this people [that] is not.”

² tn For the meaning of this word, see HALOT 118 s.v. *בַּחוּן.

³ tn Or “laid bare.” For the meaning of this word, see HALOT 889 s.v. ערר.

⁴ sn This verse probably refers to the Assyrian destruction of Babylon.

NET Notes: Isa 23:14

¹ tn Heb “ships of Tarshish.” See the note at v. 1.

NET Notes: Isa 23:15

¹ tn Or “in that day” (KJV). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

² sn The number seventy is probably used in a stereotypical, nonliteral sense here to indicate a long period of time that satisfies completely the demands of God’s judgment.

³ tn Heb “like the days of a king.”

⁴ tn Heb “At the end of seventy years it will be for Tyre like the song of the prostitute.”

NET Notes: Isa 23:16

¹ tn Heb “so you will be remembered.”

NET Notes: Isa 23:17

¹ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

² tn Heb “visit [with favor]” (cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “will deal with.”

³ tn Heb “and she will return to her [prostitute’s] wages and engage in prostitution with all the kingdoms of the earth on the face of the earth.”

NET Notes: Isa 23:18

¹ tn Heb “for eating to fullness and for beautiful covering[s].”

sn The point of this verse, which in its blatant nationalism comes precariously close to comparing the Lord to one who controls or manages a prostitute, is that Tyre will become a subject of Israel and her God. Tyre’s commercial profits will be used to enrich the Lord’s people.