Isaiahchapter 23

18 verses · ASV

This chapter sends 225 cross-references outward and receives 162 — heaviest partner: Isaiah.

Chapter summary

Tyre's burden closes the cycle of oracles against the nations. Ships of Tarshish are told to howl — their harbor is laid waste, the news reaching them from Kittim — and Sidon is shamed as the sea disowns her children. Tyre, "the bestower of crowns, whose merchants are princes," grew rich on the Nile's harvest carried over great waters, but the oracle names the planner behind her fall: "Jehovah of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory." The land of the Chaldeans stands as evidence that he shakes kingdoms. Tyre is then forgotten seventy years, "according to the days of one king," after which she returns like the forgotten harlot of the song, plying her trade with all kingdoms — yet with a twist: her merchandise and hire become "holiness to Jehovah," feeding and clothing those who dwell before him.

Drafted from Matthew Henry, Calvin, Gill, Clarke, JFB, and Barnes.

Context

Prophecy · Isaiah — see the Isaiah overview for the book's full setting.

1 The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Kittim it is revealed to them.

2 Be still, ye inhabitants of the coast, thou whom the merchants of Sidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished.

3 And on great waters the seed of the Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, was her revenue; and she was the mart of nations.

4 Be thou ashamed, O Sidon; for the sea hath spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying, I have not travailed, nor brought forth, neither have I nourished young men, nor brought up virgins.

5 When the report cometh to Egypt, they shall be sorely pained at the report of Tyre.

6 Pass ye over to Tarshish; wail, ye inhabitants of the coast.

7 Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days, whose feet carried her afar off to sojourn?

8 Who hath purposed this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honorable of the earth?

9 Jehovah of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth.