Isaiah 23 — FBV
23Verse 1A message about Tyre. Howl, people on the ships of Tarshish! Tyre has been destroyed—nothing is left of the houses and the harbor. They heard the news from the people of Cyprus.Verse 2Stay shocked into silence, people of the coastlands, merchants of Sidon, and sailors.Verse 3Egyptian grain+came across the wide oceans. The Nile's harvest was what made Tyre money; she was the merchant to the nations.Verse 4Feel the shame, Sidon! For the fortress of the sea says,+“I have no children, having never been in labor or given birth. I have not brought up young men or brought up young women.”Verse 5When the news about Tyre reaches Egypt they will be in agony.Verse 6Sail across to Tarshish! Howl, people of the coastlands!Verse 7Is this really your triumphant city, whose beginnings are from the distant past, who has sent out people to colonize faraway places?Verse 8Who planned this attack on Tyre? Tyre, who created kingdoms, whose merchants were princes, whose traders were honored around the world!Verse 9The Lord Almighty planned it, to humble its pride in all its glory, and to bring down all who receive worldly honor.Verse 10Work your land, people of Tarshish, as they do beside the Nile, for you don't have a harbor anymore.+Verse 11The Lord held his hand out over the sea and shook kingdoms.+He has condemned Phoenicia, giving the order to destroy their fortresses.Verse 12He said, “Don't celebrate any more, mistreated virgin daughter of Sidon. Go and sail over to Cyprus—however, even there you won't find rest.”Verse 13Look at the country of the Babylonians, this people that are not as they used to be! The Assyrians have turned it into a place for desert animals. They set up their siege towers, they demolished the fortresses, and ruined the country.Verse 14Howl, people on the ships of Tarshish because your fortress is destroyed!Verse 15At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, a king's lifetime, as it were. But at the end of these seventy years, Tyre will be like the song about a prostitute,Verse 16“Take a lyre and walk around the city, forgotten prostitute! Play and sing so people will remember you!”Verse 17After seventy years, the Lord will restore Tyre. But then she will go back to hiring herself out as a prostitute, selling herself to all the kingdoms of the world.Verse 18However, her profits and what she earns will be consecrated to the Lord. They won't be kept or saved up, for her business earnings will go to those who worship the Lord, to provide them with plenty of food and good clothes.