Isaiah 23:1-8

The Lord Will Judge Tyre

23:1 Here is a message about Tyre:

Wail, you large ships, ¹ 

for the port is too devastated to enter! ² 

From the land of Cyprus ³  this news is announced to them.

23:2 Lament, ⁴  you residents of the coast,

you merchants of Sidon ⁵  who travel over the sea,

whose agents sail over 23:3 the deep waters! ⁶ 

Grain from the Shihor region, ⁷ 

crops grown near the Nile ⁸  she receives; ⁹ 

she is the trade center ¹⁰  of the nations.

23:4 Be ashamed, O Sidon,

for the sea ¹¹  says this, O fortress of the sea:

“I have not gone into labor

or given birth;

I have not raised young men

or brought up young women.” ¹² 

23:5 When the news reaches Egypt,

they will be shaken by what has happened to Tyre. ¹³ 

23:6 Travel to Tarshish!

Wail, you residents of the coast!

23:7 Is this really your boisterous city ¹⁴ 

whose origins are in the distant past, ¹⁵ 

and whose feet led her to a distant land to reside?

23:8 Who planned this for royal Tyre, ¹⁶ 

whose merchants are princes,

whose traders are the dignitaries ¹⁷  of the earth?

[23:1]  ¹ tn Heb “ships of Tarshish.” This probably refers to large ships either made in or capable of traveling to the distant western port of Tarshish.

[23:1]  ² tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “for it is destroyed, from a house, from entering.” The translation assumes that the mem (מ) on בַּיִת (bayit) was originally an enclitic mem suffixed to the preceding verb. This assumption allows one to take בַּיִת as the subject of the preceding verb. It is used in a metaphorical sense for the port city of Tyre. The preposition min (מִן) prefixed to בּוֹא (bo’) indicates negative consequence: “so that no one can enter.” See BDB 583 s.v. מִן 7.b.

[23:1]  ³ tn Heb “the Kittim,” a designation for the people of Cyprus. See HALOT 504-05 s.v. כִּתִּיִּים.

[23:2]  ⁴ tn Or “keep quiet”; NAB “Silence!”

[23:2]  ⁵ map For location see Map1 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[23:3]  ⁶ tc The Hebrew text (23:2b-3a) reads literally, “merchant of Sidon, the one who crosses the sea, they filled you, and on the deep waters.” Instead of מִלְאוּךְ (mil’ukh, “they filled you”) the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a reads מלאכיך (“your messengers”). The translation assumes an emendation of מִלְאוּךְ to מַלְאָכָו (mal’akhav, “his messengers”), taking the vav (ו) on וּבְמַיִם (uvÿmayim) as improperly placed; instead it should be the final letter of the preceding word.

[23:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “seed of Shihor.” “Shihor” probably refers to the east branch of the Nile. See Jer 2:18 and BDB 1009 s.v. שִׁיחוֹר.

[23:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “the harvest of the Nile.”

[23:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “[is] her revenue.”

[23:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “merchandise”; KJV, ASV “a mart of nations”; NLT “the merchandise mart of the world.”

[23:4]  ¹¹ tn J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 1:430-31) sees here a reference to Yam, the Canaanite god of the sea. He interprets the phrase מָעוֹז הַיָּם (ma’oz hayyam, “fortress of the sea”) as a title of Yam, translating “Mighty One of the Sea.” A more traditional view is that the phrase refers to Sidon.

[23:4]  ¹² tn Or “virgins” (KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB).

[23:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “they will be in pain at the report of Tyre.”

[23:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Is this to you, boisterous one?” The pronoun “you” is masculine plural, like the imperatives in v. 6, so it is likely addressed to the Egyptians and residents of the coast. “Boisterous one” is a feminine singular form, probably referring to the personified city of Tyre.

[23:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “in the days of antiquity [is] her beginning.”

[23:8]  ¹⁶ tn The precise meaning of הַמַּעֲטִירָה (hamma’atirah) is uncertain. The form is a Hiphil participle from עָטַר (’atar), a denominative verb derived from עֲטָרָה (’atarah, “crown, wreath”). The participle may mean “one who wears a crown” or “one who distributes crowns.” In either case, Tyre’s prominence in the international political arena is in view.

[23:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the honored” (so NASB, NRSV); NIV “renowned.”