Isaiah 23:4
in Isaiah 23Be ashamed, O Sidon, the stronghold of the sea, for the sea has spoken: “I have not been in labor or given birth. I have not raised young men or brought up young women.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
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.
KJV
Be thou ashamed, O Zidon: for the sea hath spoken, even the strength of the sea, saying, I travail not, nor bring forth children, neither do I nourish up young men, nor bring up virgins.
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This verse in Isaiah 23
Commentary
16 notes on this verseBe thou ashamed, O Zidon - Tyre is called Isa 23:12, the daughter of Sidon. “The Sidonians,” says Justin, 18:3, “when their city was taken by the king of Ascalon, betook themselves to their ships, and landed, and built by Tyre.” Sidon, as the mother city is supposed to be deeply affected with the calamity of her daughter. Nor bring up virgins “Nor educated virgins” - ורוממתי veromamti; so an ancient MS. Of Dr. Kennicott’s prefixing the ו vau, which refers to the negative preceding, and is equivalent to ולא velo. See Deu 23:6; Pro 30:
This site's exposition
the burden against Tyre
on Isaiah 23:1-5
The last burden falls on Tyre, and the "ships of Tarshish" wail, for Tyre is "without house or harbor". Barnes and Delitzsch map the trade: "the harvest of the Nile was the revenue of Tyre". The sea itself speaks as a bereaved mother: "I have not been in labor".
This site's exposition
Be ashamed, O Sidon
Sidon was the older city, and Tyre began as its colony, so verse 12 calls Tyre the Virgin Daughter of Sidon. Barnes reads the call to shame as a mother told to mourn her daughter. The disgrace spreads along the whole Phoenician coast.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
If all our acts and deeds depend on the fates acquired at our birth and not on principles of morality, why are laws established and statutes promulgated by which punishment is meted out to the wicked and security bestowed on the innocent?… Why does the farmer toil and not rather wait until it is time to convey into his storehouses the produce for which he has not labored, relying on the prerogatives of his birth? If he was destined by birth to be endowed with wealth without the expenditure of labor, he should undoubtedly wait until the earth brings forth fruit spontaneously without seed. If such were the case, he should not sink his ploughshare into the earth or put his hands on the curved scythe or undergo the expense of harvesting the grapes. Rather, the wine would without effort flow plenteously into his stock of jars. Without effort, too, he would let the wild olive berry exude its oil without the labor of grafting upon the trunk of the olive tree. In the same way a merchant who travels over the wide seas would not be in dread of the perils that threaten his own life, for it is within his power, because of a certain destiny allotted to him at birth, to come without labor into a wealth of treasure.But this is far from the accepted opinion. As a matter of fact, the farmer cleaves the earth "with deep-driven plough"; "stripped he ploughs, stripped he sows"; stripped in the glowing "heat he thrashes on the floor the parched ears." The merchant, impatient when the east winds are blowing, ploughs the sea often when the course is unsafe. Insolent and rash men such as these are condemned by the prophet, who says, "Be ashamed, O Sidon, the sea speaks." That is to say, if dangers do not move you, then shame can check and modesty confound you. […]
Therefore, after being so often ploughed by returning merchants, "Be ashamed, O Sidon, has said the sea." This is the voice of the fatigued element, as it were, saying, "Be ashamed, Sidon"; that is: Merchant, you accuse my waves although you yourself are more restless than they. Blush indeed for shame since you are not disturbed by peril. More modest are the winds than your desires. They have their rests; never do your cravings for gain take holiday. Even when the weather is quiet, never are your ships quiet. The water is churned under the oar when it is at rest from the blast. "I have not been in labor," it says, "nor have I reared, nor have I nourished up young men." Why do they disquiet me whom I do not know, whom I do not acknowledge?
To convince you of this, return again to the sea, and observe its depths, its extent, its division into bays, its shores, its port, the islands in its midst, the kinds of fishes in it and their species, shapes, variety and fondness for the shore.…Since …
(Verse 4.) Blush, O Sidon: for the sea speaks as the strength of the sea, saying: I have not given birth, and I have not borne, and I have not nourished the youth, nor have I led the maidens to growth. I have said before that the colony of the Sidonians is Tyre. Therefore, listen, mother, all the seas together cry out against your daughter, and in a way, emit a voice that they cannot naturally speak: I have gathered riches in vain: for no reason did I bring wealth from the whole world into Tyre: she, once rich, once luxurious, and once rejoicing in the multitude of peoples in which a crowd of mortals were born, a crowd of children, the trials of youth, whose streets were filled with the games of maidens, infants, youths, and girls: now she has been reduced to desolation. However, the practice of personifying mute objects is a common ritual.
(Verse 4-5) Blush, Sidon, said the sea; but the strength of the sea says, I have not given birth, nor have I brought forth, nor have I nourished young men, nor have I exalted virgins. But when it is heard in Egypt, sorrow will seize them over Tyre.
8 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church3 voices
Sidon is brought to shame, as it were, by the voice of the sea, when the life of one who is fortified and supposedly steadfast is reprobated in comparison with the lives of those who are worldly and are being tossed about in this world. For often there are those who, returning to the Lord after their sins of the flesh, evince themselves the more zealous in doing good works, as they realize they were worthy of condemnation for their deeds. And often certain people who persevere in preserving the integrity of the flesh, on perceiving that they have less to deplore, think to themselves that the innocence of their lives is sufficient and do not arouse themselves by zealously striving to be fervent in spirit.
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Preface to Book 1, Section 5 · Written before 604.
proposed
Divine Providence has compassed us about and cut off all excuse. All openings to people's equivocating arts are in every way closed. A Gentile, one without the law, is brought forward to confound the iniquity of those that are under the law; which is well and summarily shown by the prophet, when he says, "Be ashamed, O Sidon, says the sea." For in Sidon we have a figure of the steadfastness of those settled upon the foundation of the law, and in the sea of the life of the Gentiles. Accordingly, "Be ashamed, O Sidon, says the sea," because the life of those under the law is convicted by the life of Gentiles, and the conduct of people in a state of religion is put to confusion by the conduct of those living in the world, so long as the first do not, even under vows, observe what they hear enjoined in precepts. The latter by their manner of life keep those ways so that they are not in any wise bound by legal enactments.
Third, he sets out the confusion of their neighbors. And first, of the Sidonians, whose colony Tyre was: the sea, that is, traders of the sea, speaks: be you ashamed, O Sidon, for you did not defend Tyre; for my strength, that is, Tyre, is …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Zidon - Zidon was a great city near Tyre, strongly united to her by commerce and league, and called by some the mother of Tyre, which they say, was built and first inhabited by a colony of the Sidonians. The sea - That part of the sea in which Tyre was, and from which ships and men were sent into all countries.
Be thou ashamed, O Zidon,....
Egypt indeed was a much larger and more considerable kingdom than Tyre was; and yet Tyre had so large a correspondence, upon the account of trade, that all the nations about shall be as much in pain, upon the report of the ruin of that one city, as they would have been, and not long after were, upon the report of the ruin of all Egypt,
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
"I (no more now) travail, nor bring forth," &c. "Strength of the sea," that is, stronghold, namely, New Tyre, on a rock (as "Tyre" means) surrounded by the sea (Eze 26:4, 14-17; so Venice was called "Bride of the sea";
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Be thou ashamed, O Zidon - Tyre was a colony of Sidon. Sidon is here addressed as the mother of Tyre, and is called on to lament over her daughter that was destroyed. In Isa 23:12, Tyre is called the ‘daughter of Sidon;’ and such appellations were commonly given to cities (see the note at Isa 1:8). Sidon is here represented as ashamed, or grieved - as a mother is who is bereft of all her children. The sea hath spoken - New Tyre was on a rock at some distance from the land, and seemed to rise out of the sea, somewhat as Venice does It is described here as a production of the sea, and the sea is represented as speaking by her. Even the strength of the sea - The fortress, or strong place (מעוז mā‛ôz) of the sea. Tyre, on a rock, might be regarded as the strong place, or the defense of the Mediterranean. Thus Zechariah Zec 9:3 says of it. ‘And Tyrus did build herself a stronghold’ (מצור mâtsôr). Saying, I travail not - The expresssions which follow are to be regarded as the language of Tyre - the founder of colonies and cities. The sense is, ‘My wealth and resources are gone. My commerce is annihilated. I cease to plant cities and colonies, and to nourish and foster them, as I once did, by my trade.’ The idea of the whole verse is, that the city which had been the mistress of the commercial world, and distinguished for founding other cities and colonies, was about to lose her importance, and to cease to extend her colonies and her influence over other countries. Over this fact, Sidon, the mother and founder of Tyre herself, would be humbled and grieved that her daughter, so proud, so rich, and so magnificent, was brought so low.
The words behind it
17 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בּ֣וֹשִׁי | booshi | be ashamed | H954 → | 127 times |
| צִיד֔וֹן | tzidon | O Sidon | H6721 → | 22 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אָמַ֣ר | ʾamar | it has said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יָ֔ם | yam | [the] sea | H3220 → | 396 times |
| מָע֥וֹז | maoz | [the] stronghold of | H4581 → | 36 times |
| הַיָּ֖ם | haiyam | the sea | H3220 → | 396 times |
| לֵאמֹ֑ר | lemor | <to> saying | H559 → | 5305 times |
| לֹֽא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| חַ֣לְתִּי | chalti | I have been in labor | H2342 → | 58 times |
| וְלֹֽא־ | velo'- | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יָלַ֗דְתִּי | yaladti | I have given birth | H3205 → | 496 times |
| וְלֹ֥א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| גִדַּ֛לְתִּי | gidalti | I have brought up | H1431 → | 117 times |
| בַּחוּרִ֖ים | bachurim | young men | H970 → | 44 times |
| רוֹמַ֥מְתִּי | romamti | I have raised | H7311 → | 190 times |
| בְתוּלֽוֹת׃ | vetulot | young women | H1330 → | 50 times |
בּ֣וֹשִׁיbe ashamed
booshiH954 →127 times
צִיד֔וֹןO Sidon
tzidonH6721 →22 times
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
אָמַ֣רit has said
ʾamarH559 →5305 times
יָ֔ם[the] sea
yamH3220 →396 times
מָע֥וֹז[the] stronghold of
maozH4581 →36 times
הַיָּ֖םthe sea
haiyamH3220 →396 times
לֵאמֹ֑ר<to> saying
lemorH559 →5305 times
לֹֽא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
חַ֣לְתִּיI have been in labor
chaltiH2342 →58 times
וְלֹֽא־and not
velo'-H3808 →5168 times
יָלַ֗דְתִּיI have given birth
yaladtiH3205 →496 times
וְלֹ֥אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
גִדַּ֛לְתִּיI have brought up
gidaltiH1431 →117 times
בַּחוּרִ֖יםyoung men
bachurimH970 →44 times
רוֹמַ֥מְתִּיI have raised
romamtiH7311 →190 times
בְתוּלֽוֹת׃young women
vetulotH1330 →50 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Revelation 18:23The light of a lamp will never shine in you again, and the voices of a bride and bridegroom will never call out in you again. For your merchants were the great ones of…
it leads to
- Revelation 18:3
All the nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her immorality. The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthy from the extravagance…
- Nahum 3:4
because of the many harlotries of the harlot, the seductive mistress of sorcery, who betrays nations by her prostitution and clans by her witchcraft.
- Isaiah 23:8
Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose traders are princes, whose merchants are renowned on the earth?
- Jeremiah 7:34
I will remove from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sounds of joy and gladness and the voices of the bride and bridegroom, for the land will become a wasteland.”
- Revelation 22:15
But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
- Revelation 18:3
Through
Genesis 10:15And Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites,
it leads to
- Numbers 34:2–15
“Command the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land of Canaan, it will be allotted to you as an inheritance with these boundaries:
- Exodus 34:11
Observe what I command you this day. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
- Numbers 34:2–15
Through
Genesis 10:19and the borders of Canaan extended from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.
it leads to
- Genesis 14:2
went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).
- Genesis 14:2
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
About Isaiah
This page draws on 15 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, The Six Days of Creation 4.4.19; Ambrose of Milan, On Elijah and Fasting 19.71; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Gregory the Dialogist, Pastoral Care, Part 3, Chapter 28; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Preface to Book 1, Section 5; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theodoret of Cyrus, ON DIVINE PROVIDENCE 2:18, 20 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.