Isaiah 23

1The Word concerning Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Carthage; for she has perished, and [men] no longer arrive from the land of the Citians: she is led captive.

2To whom are the dwellers in the island become like, the merchants of Phœnice, passing over the sea

3in great waters, a generation of merchants? as when the harvest is gathered in, [so are] these traders with the nations.

4Be ashamed, O Sidon: the sea has said, yea, the strength of the sea has said, I have not travailed, nor brought forth, nor have I brought up young men, nor reared virgins.

5Moreover when it shall be heard in Egypt, sorrow shall seize them for Tyre.

6Depart ye to Carthage; howl, ye that dwell in this island.

7Was not this your pride from the beginning, before she was given up?

8Who has devised this counsel against Tyre? Is she inferior? or has she no strength? her merchants were the glorious princes of the earth.

9The Lord of hosts has purposed to bring down all the pride of the glorious ones, and to disgrace every glorious thing on the earth.

10Till thy land; for ships no more come out of Carthage.

11And thy hand prevails no more by sea, which troubled kings: the Lord of hosts has given a command concerning Chanaan, to destroy the strength thereof.

12And [men] shall say, Ye shall no longer at all continue to insult and injure the daughter of Sidon: and if thou depart to the Citians, neither there shalt thou have rest.

13And [if thou depart] to the land of the Chaldeans, this also is laid waste by the Assyrians, for her wall is fallen.

14Howl, ye ships of Carthage: for your strong hold is destroyed.

15And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] Tyre shall be left seventy years, as the time of a king, as the time of a man: and it shall come to pass after seventy years, [that] Tyre shall be as the song of a harlot.

16Take a harp, go about, O city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; play well on the harp, sing many [songs], that thou mayest be remembered.

17And it shall come to pass after the seventy years, [that] God will visit Tyre, and she shall be again restored to her primitive state, and she shall be a mart for all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.

18And her trade and her gain shall be holiness to the Lord: it shall not be gathered for them, but for those that dwell before the Lord, [even] all her trade, to eat and drink and be filled, and for a covenant [and] a memorial before the Lord.