Isaiah 23:13

(Verse 13) If you go to the Citians, there will be no rest for you there; and if you go to the land of the Chaldeans, it has also been devastated by the Assyrians. Siim founded it, they established its fortifications, they raised its tower: its wall has fallen. And what follows in Theodotion's edition is added under asterisks: Siim founded it, they established its fortifications, they raised its tower, and without asterisks it is joined: its wall has fallen. The Cilicians are interpreted as a completed or perfect wound: the Chaldeans in this place, as if breasts: the Assyrians, accusing. We could not find the etymology ourselves, and the other interpreters translated it by the very name used in Hebrew. Therefore, it is said to Tyre that, although it seeks to go to the Cilicians and avoid the distress of its own wound, it cannot find perfect rest even there. And if it desires to go to the Chaldeans and enjoy their abundance and the abundance of all things, it will also find them deserted, with the Assyrians accusing their sterility, just as the Apostle handed over the sinners of Satan (1 Tim. 1), so that they may learn not to blaspheme: those who are handed over to the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved. However, the Chaldeans laid the foundations of which I understand to be the most wicked demons, who raised up strongholds and the most proud towers of the city of Chaldea against the knowledge of the Lord. But all their building collapsed into ruins; for, its wall fell. For unless the Lord builds the house, in vain do those who build it labor. (Ps. CXXVI, 1). Often we see in the world certain individuals pass from one purpose to another. For example, those who have had a bad experience in the military can transition to business. And again, lawyers of warriors take up weapons. […]

(Verse 13, 14.) Behold the land of the Chaldeans, such a people has never existed: Assyria laid it waste, they led away its strong men, they dug up its houses, they reduced it to ruins. Wail, O ships of the sea, for your strength is destroyed. For as it was said before: His feet will travel a great distance in exile; and again, Cross over your land like a river, and the people of Tyre will be doubly afflicted, those who fled and crossed over to Cyprus, and those who remained in the city. About those who had fled, he says above: Rising up, cross over to Cethim, there also there will be no rest for you. About those who remained and were led into captivity, he says: Behold, the inhabitants of the land of the Chaldeans, whose power no other people had before, and which was founded by the Assyrians, they have led mighty men of Tyre. They not only dug up the walls, but also all the dwellings of the city, and turned it into ruins. Therefore, because some have fled and others have been captured, howl, O ships, whether of the sea or of Carthage; for your trade and colony have been destroyed. At the same time, consider how he praised the Chaldeans. He did not say that such a people will no longer exist: for indeed, the kingdom of the Romans is more powerful and harsher; but, there was not one before. He who denied the previous things, has conceded the following things.

(Verse 13) And he said: You shall no longer boast, enduring slander, O virgin daughter of Sidon, rising up to Cythim, crossing over: there also you will find no rest. God, who has determined to bring down the pride of all glory, who has commanded against Canaan, to crush its warriors, he himself says, By no means shall you boast any longer, and trust in your own power.

Second, he sets out the strength of the enemy: behold the land of the Chaldeans, there was not such a people, before them; the Assyrians, or Nabuchodonosor, founded it: is not this Babylon, which I have built? (Dan 4:27). Third, he sets out the destruction …

Babel was built by the Assyrians for those that dwelt in the wilderness. It may be rendered for the ships (the Assyrians founded it for ships and shipmen that traffic upon those vast rivers Tigris and Euphrates to the Persian and Indian seas), for men of the desert, for Babylon is called the desert of the sea, ch. xxi. Thus Tyrus was built upon the sea for the like purpose.