Isaiah 23:16-18

Amplified Bible

¹⁶
Take a harp, walk around the city,
O forgotten prostitute;
Play the strings skillfully, sing many songs,
That you may be remembered.

¹⁷It will come to pass at the end of seventy years that the Lord will remember Tyre. Then she will return to her prostitute’s wages and will play the [role of a] prostitute [by trading] with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. ¹⁸But her commercial gain and her prostitute’s wages will be ^[a]dedicated to the Lord; it will not be treasured or stored up, but her commercial gain will become sufficient food and stately clothing for those who dwell (minister) in the presence of the Lord.

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Footnotes

Isaiah 23:18 Tyre was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 572 b.c. and lay desolate for seventy years. The new city built on the island was taken by Alexander the Great in 332 b.c. Eventually Christianity prevailed at Tyre. Jesus visited there (Matt 15:21) and so did Paul (Acts 21:3-6). In his commentary on Isaiah Eusebius says that when the church of God was founded in Tyre, much of its wealth was consecrated to God and presented for the support of ministers. This is also the testimony of Jerome, the Latin church father writing in the fourth century.

Isaiah 23:16-18

New International Version

¹⁶“Take up a harp, walk through the city,
you forgotten prostitute;^(A)
play the harp well, sing many a song,
so that you will be remembered.”

¹⁷At the end of seventy years,^(B) the Lord will deal with Tyre. She will return to her lucrative prostitution^(C) and will ply her trade with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.^(D) ¹⁸Yet her profit and her earnings will be set apart for the Lord;^(E) they will not be stored up or hoarded. Her profits will go to those who live before the Lord,^(F) for abundant food and fine clothes.^(G)

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Isaiah 23:16-18

King James Version

¹⁶Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.

¹⁷And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the Lord will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.

¹⁸And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the Lord: it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the Lord, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.

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