An Oracle Concerning Tyre
The oracle concerning aTyre.
Wail, O bships of cTarshish,
For Tyre is destroyed, without house or dharbor;
It is revealed to them from the land of eCyprus.
2 aBe silent, you inhabitants of the coastland,
You merchants of Sidon;
Your messengers crossed the sea
3 And were on many waters.
aThe grain of bShihor, the harvest of the Nile was her revenue;
And she was the nations’ cgain.
4 Be ashamed, O aSidon;
For the sea speaks, the strong defense of the sea, saying,
“I have neither travailed nor given birth;
I have neither brought up choice men nor reared virgins.”
5 When the report reaches Egypt,
They will be in atravail at the report of Tyre.
6 Pass over to aTarshish;
Wail, O inhabitants of the coastland.
7 Is this your aexultant city,
Whose origin is from days of old,
Whose feet used to lead her to sojourn in distant places?
8 Who has counseled this against Tyre, athe bestower of crowns,
Whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth?
9 aYahweh of hosts has counseled it, to bdefile the pride of all beauty,
To make contemptuous all the chonored of the earth.
10 Overflow your land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish;
There is no more restraint.
11 He has astretched His hand out bover the sea;
He has cmade the kingdoms tremble;
Yahweh has given a command concerning Canaan to ddemolish its strong defenses.
12 So He said, “aYou shall exult no more, O crushed virgin daughter of Sidon.
Arise, pass over to bCyprus; even there you will find no rest.”
13 Behold, the land of the Chaldeans—this is the people which was not; aAssyria established it for bdesert creatures—they erected their siege towers, they stripped its palaces, cthey made it a ruin.
14 Wail, O aships of Tarshish,
For your strong defense is destroyed.
15 Now it will be in that day, that Tyre will be forgotten for aseventy years like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot:
16 Take your harp, walk about the city,
O forgotten harlot;
Pluck the strings skillfully, sing many songs,
That you may be remembered.
17 And it will be at athe end of seventy years that Yahweh will visit Tyre. Then she will go back to her harlot’s wages and will bplay the harlot with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. 18 And her again and her harlot’s wages will be bset apart to Yahweh; it will not be treasured up or hoarded, but her gain will become sufficient food and choice attire for those who inhabit the presence of Yahweh.