NIV Isaiah 23 Chapter
23:1
An oracle concerning Tyre: Wail, O ships of Tarshish! For Tyre is destroyed and left without house or harbor. From the land of Cyprus word has come to them.
23:2
Be silent, you people of the island and you merchants of Sidon, whom the seafarers have enriched.
23:3
On the great waters came the grain of the Shihor; the harvest of the Nile
23:4
Be ashamed, O Sidon, and you, O fortress of the sea, for the sea has spoken: "I have neither been in labor nor given birth; I have neither reared sons nor brought up daughters."
23:5
When word comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish at the report from Tyre.
23:6
Cross over to Tarshish; wail, you people of the island.
23:7
Is this your city of revelry, the old, old city, whose feet have taken her to settle in far-off lands?
23:8
Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are renowned in the earth?
23:9
The LORD Almighty planned it, to bring low the pride of all glory and to humble all who are renowned on the earth.
23:10
Till your land as along the Nile, O Daughter of Tarshish, for you no longer have a harbor.
23:11
The LORD has stretched out his hand over the sea and made its kingdoms tremble. He has given an order concerning Phoenicia that her fortresses be destroyed.
23:12
He said, "No more of your reveling, O Virgin Daughter of Sidon, now crushed! "Up, cross over to Cyprus; even there you will find no rest."
23:13
Look at the land of the Babylonians, this people that is now of no account! The Assyrians have made it a place for desert creatures; they raised up their siege towers, they stripped its fortresses bare and turned it into a ruin.
23:14
Wail, you ships of Tarshish; your fortress is destroyed!
23:15
At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the span of a king's life. But at the end of these seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:
23:16
"Take up a harp, walk through the city, O prostitute forgotten; play the harp well, sing many a song, so that you will be remembered."
23:17
At the end of seventy years, the LORD will deal with Tyre. She will return to her hire as a prostitute and will ply her trade with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.
23:18
Yet her profit and her earnings will be set apart for the LORD; they will not be stored up or hoarded. Her profits will go to those who live before the LORD, for abundant food and fine clothes.