Isaiah 23:6-9

23:6 Travel to Tarshish!

Wail, you residents of the coast!

23:7 Is this really your boisterous city ¹ 

whose origins are in the distant past, ² 

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

23:8 Who planned this for royal Tyre, ³ 

whose merchants are princes,

whose traders are the dignitaries ⁴  of the earth?

23:9 The Lord who commands armies planned it –

to dishonor the pride that comes from all her beauty, ⁵ 

to humiliate all the dignitaries of the earth.

[23:7]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “in the days of antiquity [is] her beginning.”

[23:8]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “the honored” (so NASB, NRSV); NIV “renowned.”

[23:9]  ¹ tn Heb “the pride of all the beauty.”