The Fall of Tyre
The oracle concerning aTyre.
Wail, O bships of cTarshish,
For Tyre is destroyed, without house or dharbor;
It is reported 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 the bNile, the harvest of the River was her revenue;
And she was the cmarket of nations.
4 Be ashamed, O aSidon;
For the sea speaks, the stronghold of the sea, saying,
“I have neither travailed nor given birth,
I have neither brought up young men nor reared virgins.”
5 When the report reaches Egypt,
They will be in aanguish at the report of Tyre.
6 Pass over to aTarshish;
Wail, O inhabitants of the coastland.
7 Is this your ajubilant city,
Whose origin is from antiquity,
Whose feet used to carry her to colonize distant places?
8 Who has planned this against Tyre, athe bestower of crowns,
Whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth?
9 aThe Lord of hosts has planned it, to bdefile the pride of all beauty,
To despise 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;
The Lord has given a command concerning Canaan to ddemolish its strongholds.
12 He has 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 appointed 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 stronghold is destroyed.
15 Now in that day 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 It will come about at athe end of seventy years that the Lord 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 Her again and her harlot’s wages will be bset apart to the Lord; it will not be stored up or hoarded, but her gain will become sufficient food and choice attire for those who dwell in the presence of the Lord.
Judgment on the Earth
Behold, the Lord alays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants. 2 And the people will be like the priest, the servant like his master, the maid like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the acreditor like the debtor. 3 The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for the Lord has spoken this word. 4 The aearth mourns and withers, the world fades and withers, the bexalted of the people of the earth fade away. 5 The earth is also apolluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, bbroke the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore, a acurse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore, the binhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.
7 The anew wine mourns,
The vine decays,
All the merry‑hearted sigh.
8 The agaiety of tambourines ceases,
The noise of revelers stops,
The gaiety of the harp ceases.
9 They do not drink wine with song;
aStrong drink is bbitter to those who drink it.
10 The acity of chaos is broken down;
bEvery house is shut up so that none may enter.
11 There is an aoutcry in the streets concerning the wine;
bAll joy turns to gloom.
The gaiety of the earth is banished.
12 Desolation is left in the city
And the agate is battered to ruins.
13 For athus it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples,
As the shaking of an olive tree,
As the gleanings when the grape harvest is over.
14 aThey raise their voices, they shout for joy;
They cry out from the west concerning the majesty of the Lord.
15 Therefore aglorify the Lord in the east,
The bname of the Lord, the God of Israel,
In the ccoastlands of the sea.
16 From the aends of the earth we hear songs, “bGlory to the Righteous One,”
But I say, “cWoe to me! Woe to me! Alas for me!
The dtreacherous deal treacherously,
And the treacherous deal very treacherously.”
17 aTerror and pit and snare
Confront you, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 Then it will be that he who flees the report of disaster will fall into the pit,
And he who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare;
For the awindows above are opened, and the bfoundations of the earth shake.
19 aThe earth is broken asunder,
The earth is bsplit through,
The earth is shaken violently.
20 The earth areels to and fro like a drunkard
And it totters like a shack,
For its btransgression is heavy upon it,
And it will fall, cnever to rise again.
21 So it will happen in that day,
That the Lord will apunish the host of heaven on high,
And the bkings of the earth on earth.
22 They will be gathered together
Like aprisoners in the dungeon,
And will be confined in prison;
And after many days they will bbe punished.
23 Then the amoon will be abashed and the sun ashamed,
For the bLord of hosts will reign on cMount Zion and in Jerusalem,
And His glory will be before His elders.
Song of Praise for God’s Favor
O Lord, You are amy God;
I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name;
For You have bworked wonders,
cPlans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.
2 For You have made a city into a aheap,
A bfortified city into a ruin;
A cpalace of strangers is a city no more,
It will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore a strong people will aglorify You;
bCities of ruthless nations will revere You.
4 For You have been a adefense for the helpless,
A defense for the needy in his distress,
A brefuge from the storm, a shade from the heat;
For the breath of the cruthless
Is like a rain storm against a wall.
5 Like heat in drought, You subdue the auproar of aliens;
Like heat by the shadow of a cloud, the song of the ruthless is silenced.
6 aThe Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for ball peoples on this mountain;
A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow,
And refined, aged wine.
7 And on this mountain He will swallow up the acovering which is over all peoples,
Even the veil which is stretched over all nations.
8 He will aswallow up death for all time,
And the Lord God will bwipe tears away from all faces,
And He will remove the creproach of His people from all the earth;
For the Lord has spoken.
9 And it will be said in that day,
“Behold, athis is our God for whom we have bwaited that cHe might save us.
This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
dLet us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”
10 For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain,
And aMoab will be trodden down in his place
As straw is trodden down in the water of a manure pile.
11 And he will aspread out his hands in the middle of it
As a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim,
But the Lord will blay low his pride together with the trickery of his hands.
12 The aunassailable fortifications of your walls He will bring down,
Lay low and cast to the ground, even to the dust.
Song of Trust in God’s Protection
aIn that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
“We have a bstrong city;
He sets up walls and ramparts for csecurity.
2 “Open the agates, that the brighteous nation may enter,
The one that remains faithful.
3 “The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect apeace,
Because he trusts in You.
4 “aTrust in the Lord forever,
For in God the Lord, we have an everlasting bRock.
5 “For He has brought low those who dwell on high, the aunassailable city;
bHe lays it low, He lays it low to the ground, He casts it to the dust.
6 “aThe foot will trample it,
The feet of the bafflicted, the steps of the helpless.”
7 The away of the righteous is smooth;
O Upright One, bmake the path of the righteous level.
8 Indeed, while following the way of aYour judgments, O Lord,
We have waited for You eagerly;
bYour name, even Your cmemory, is the desire of our souls.
9 aAt night my soul longs for You,
Indeed, my spirit within me bseeks You diligently;
For when the earth experiences Your judgments
The inhabitants of the world clearn righteousness.
10 Though the wicked is shown favor,
He does not alearn righteousness;
He bdeals unjustly in the land of uprightness,
And does not perceive the majesty of the Lord.
11 O Lord, Your hand is lifted up yet they ado not see it.
They see bYour zeal for the people and are put to shame;
Indeed, cfire will devour Your enemies.
12 Lord, You will establish apeace for us,
Since You have also performed for us all our works.
13 O Lord our God, aother masters besides You have ruled us;
But through You alone we bconfess Your name.
14 aThe dead will not live, the departed spirits will not rise;
Therefore You have bpunished and destroyed them,
And You have wiped out all remembrance of them.
15 aYou have increased the nation, O Lord,
You have increased the nation, You are glorified;
You have bextended all the borders of the land.
16 O Lord, they sought You ain distress;
They could only whisper a prayer,
Your chastening was upon them.
17 aAs the pregnant woman approaches the time to give birth,
She writhes and cries out in her labor pains,
Thus were we before You, O Lord.
18 We were pregnant, we writhed in labor,
We agave birth, as it seems, only to wind.
We could not accomplish deliverance for the earth,
Nor were binhabitants of the world born.
19 Your adead will live;
Their corpses will rise.
You who lie in the dust, bawake and shout for joy,
For your dew is as the dew of the dawn,
And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits.
20 Come, my people, aenter into your rooms
And close your doors behind you;
Hide for a little bwhile
Until cindignation runs its course.
21 For behold, the Lord is about to acome out from His place
To bpunish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;
And the earth will creveal her bloodshed
And will no longer cover her slain.