An Oracle Concerning Tyre and Sidon
The aoracle concerning bTyre.
Wail, O cships of Tarshish,
for Tyre is laid waste, dwithout house or harbor!
From ethe land of Cyprus
it is revealed to them.
2 Be still, O inhabitants of the coast;
the merchants of aSidon, who cross the sea, have filled you.
3 And on many waters
your revenue was the grain of Shihor,
the harvest of the Nile;
you were athe merchant of the nations.
4 Be ashamed, O aSidon, for the sea has spoken,
the stronghold of the sea, saying:
“I have neither labored nor given birth,
I have neither reared young men
nor brought up young women.”
5 When the report comes to Egypt,
they will be in anguish over the report about Tyre.
6 aCross over to Tarshish;
wail, O inhabitants of the coast!
7 Is this your exultant city
awhose origin is from days of old,
whose feet carried her
to settle far away?
8 Who has purposed this
against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants were princes,
whose traders were the honored of the earth?
9 The Lord of hosts has purposed it,
ato defile the pompous pride of all glory,
to dishonor all the honored of the earth.
10 Cross over your land like the Nile,
O daughter of Tarshish;
there is no restraint anymore.
11 aHe has stretched out his hand over the sea;
he has shaken the kingdoms;
the Lord has given command concerning Canaan
to destroy its strongholds.
12 And he said:
“You will no more exult,
O oppressed virgin daughter of aSidon;
arise, bcross over to cCyprus,
even there you will have no rest.”
13 Behold the land of athe Chaldeans! This is the people that was not; Assyria destined it for wild beasts. They erected btheir siege towers, they stripped her palaces bare, they made her a ruin.
14 aWail, O ships of Tarshish,
for your stronghold is laid waste.
15 In that day Tyre will be forgotten for aseventy years, like the days of one king. At the end of aseventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:
16 “Take a harp;
go about the city,
O forgotten prostitute!
Make sweet melody;
sing many songs,
that you may be remembered.”
17 At the end of aseventy years, the Lord will visit Tyre, and she will return to her wages and bwill prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. 18 Her merchandise and her wages will be holy to the Lord. It will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who dwell before the Lord.