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An Oracle concerning Tyre

23 The oracle concerning Tyre.

Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
    for your fortress is destroyed.[a]
When they came in from Cyprus
    they learned of it.(A)
Be still, O inhabitants of the coast,
    O merchants of Sidon;
your messengers crossed over the sea[b](B)
    and were on the mighty waters;
your revenue[c] was the grain of Shihor,
    the harvest of the Nile;
    you were the merchant of the nations.(C)
Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken,
    the fortress of the sea, saying:
“I have neither labored nor given birth;
    I have neither reared young men
    nor brought up young women.”(D)
When the report comes to Egypt,
    they will be in anguish over the report about Tyre.
Cross over to Tarshish—
    wail, O inhabitants of the coast!
Is this your exultant city
    whose origin is from days of old,
whose feet carried her
    to settle far away?(E)
Who has planned this
    against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants were princes,
    whose traders were the honored of the earth?
The Lord of hosts has planned it—
    to defile the pride of all glory,
    to shame all the honored of the earth.(F)
10 Cross over to your own land,
    O ships of[d] Tarshish;
    this is a harbor[e] no more.
11 He has stretched out his hand over the sea;
    he has shaken the kingdoms;
the Lord has given command concerning Canaan,
    to destroy its fortresses.(G)
12 He said:
“You will exult no longer,
    O oppressed virgin daughter Sidon;
rise, cross over to Cyprus—
    even there you will have no rest.”(H)

13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans! This is the people; it was not Assyria. They destined it for wild animals.[f] They erected their siege towers; they tore down her palaces; they made her a ruin.(I)

14 Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
    for your fortress is destroyed.(J)

15 From that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the lifetime of one king. At the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song about the prostitute:(K)

16 Take a harp;
    go about the city,
    you forgotten prostitute!
Make sweet melody;
    sing many songs,
    that you may be remembered.

17 At the end of seventy years, the Lord will visit Tyre, and she will return to her trade and will prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.(L) 18 Her merchandise and her wages will be dedicated to the Lord; her profits[g] will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who live in the presence of the Lord.(M)

Impending Judgment on the Earth

24 Now the Lord is about to lay waste the earth and make it desolate,
    and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.(N)
And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest;
    as with the male slave, so with his master;
    as with the female slave, so with her mistress;
as with the buyer, so with the seller;
    as with the lender, so with the borrower;
    as with the creditor, so with the debtor.(O)
The earth shall be utterly laid waste and utterly despoiled,
    for the Lord has spoken this word.(P)

The earth dries up and withers;
    the world languishes and withers;
    the heavens languish together with the earth.
The earth lies polluted
    under its inhabitants,
for they have transgressed laws,
    violated the statutes,
    broken the everlasting covenant.(Q)
Therefore a curse devours the earth,
    and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt;
therefore the inhabitants of the earth dwindled,
    and few people are left.(R)
The wine dries up;
    the vine languishes;
    all the merry-hearted sigh.(S)
The mirth of the timbrels is stilled;
    the noise of the jubilant has ceased;
    the mirth of the lyre is stilled.(T)
No longer do they drink wine with singing;
    strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
10 The city of chaos is broken down;
    every house is shut up so that no one can enter.(U)
11 There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine;
    all joy has reached its eventide;
    the gladness of the earth is banished.(V)
12 Desolation is left in the city;
    the gates are battered into ruins.
13 For thus it shall be on the earth
    and among the nations,
as when an olive tree is beaten,
    as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is ended.(W)

14 They lift up their voices; they sing for joy;
    they shout from the west over the majesty of the Lord.(X)
15 Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord;
    in the coastlands of the sea glorify the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.(Y)
16 From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise,
    of glory to the Righteous One.

But I say, “I pine away;
    I pine away. Woe is me!
For the treacherous deal treacherously;
    the treacherous deal very treacherously.”(Z)
17 Terror, the pit, and the snare
    are upon you, O inhabitants of the earth!(AA)
18 Whoever flees at the sound of the terror
    shall fall into the pit,
and whoever climbs out of the pit
    shall be caught in the snare.
For the windows of heaven are opened,
    and the foundations of the earth tremble.(AB)
19 The earth is utterly broken;
    the earth is torn apart;
    the earth is violently shaken.(AC)
20 The earth staggers like a drunkard;
    it sways like a hut;
its transgression lies heavy upon it,
    and it falls and will not rise again.(AD)

21 On that day the Lord will punish
    the host of heaven in heaven
    and on earth the kings of the earth.(AE)
22 They will be gathered together
    like prisoners in a pit;
they will be shut up in a prison,
    and after many days they will be punished.(AF)
23 Then the moon will be abashed
    and the sun ashamed,
for the Lord of hosts will reign
    on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and before his elders he will be glorified.(AG)

Praise for Deliverance from Oppression

25 O Lord, you are my God;
    I will exalt you; I will praise your name,
for you have done wonderful things,
    plans formed of old, faithful and sure.(AH)
For you have made the city a heap,
    the fortified city a ruin;
the palace of foreigners is a city no more;
    it will never be rebuilt.(AI)
Therefore strong peoples will glorify you;
    cities of ruthless nations will fear you.
For you have been a refuge to the poor,
    a refuge to the needy in their distress,
    a shelter from the rainstorm and a shade from the heat.
When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rainstorm,(AJ)
    the noise of foreigners like heat in a dry place,
you subdued the heat with the shade of clouds;
    the song of the ruthless was stilled.(AK)

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
    a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines,
    of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.(AL)
And he will destroy on this mountain
    the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
    the covering that is spread over all nations;
    he will swallow up death forever.
Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,
    and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,
    for the Lord has spoken.(AM)
It will be said on that day,
    “See, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us.
    This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
    let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”(AN)
10 For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain.

The Moabites shall be trodden down in their place
    as straw is trodden down in the manure.(AO)
11 Though they spread out their hands in the midst of it,
    as swimmers spread out their hands to swim,
    their pride will be laid low despite the struggle[h] of their hands.
12 The high fortifications of his walls will be brought down,
    laid low, cast to the ground, even to the dust.

Footnotes

  1. 23.1 Cn: Heb for it is destroyed, without houses
  2. 23.2 Q ms: MT crossing over the sea, they replenished you
  3. 23.3 Heb its
  4. 23.10 Cn Compare Gk: Heb like the Nile, daughter
  5. 23.10 Cn: Heb restraint
  6. 23.13 Or This is the people that was not. Assyria founded it for its fleet.
  7. 23.18 Heb it
  8. 25.11 Meaning of Heb uncertain