Woe to Unrepentant Cities

13 (A)“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in (B)Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

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13 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

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An Oracle Concerning Tyre and Sidon

23 The (A)oracle concerning (B)Tyre.

Wail, O (C)ships of Tarshish,
    for Tyre is laid waste, (D)without house or harbor!
From (E)the land of Cyprus[a]
    it is revealed to them.
Be still, O inhabitants of the coast;
    the merchants of (F)Sidon, who cross the sea, have filled you.
And on many waters
your revenue was the grain of Shihor,
    the harvest of the Nile;
    you were (G)the merchant of the nations.
Be ashamed, O (H)Sidon, 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.”
When the report comes to Egypt,
    they will be in anguish[b] over the report about Tyre.
(I)Cross over to Tarshish;
    wail, O inhabitants of the coast!
Is this your exultant city
    (J)whose origin is from days of old,
whose feet carried her
    to settle far away?
Who has purposed this
    against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants were princes,
    whose traders were the honored of the earth?
The Lord of hosts has purposed it,
    (K)to defile the pompous pride of all glory,[c]
    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 (L)He 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 (M)Sidon;
arise, (N)cross over to (O)Cyprus,
    even there you will have no rest.”

13 Behold the land of (P)the Chaldeans! This is the people that was not;[d] Assyria destined it for wild beasts. They erected (Q)their siege towers, they stripped her palaces bare, they made her a ruin.

14 (R)Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
    for your stronghold is laid waste.

15 In that day Tyre will be forgotten for (S)seventy years, like the days[e] of one king. At the end of (T)seventy 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 (U)seventy years, the Lord will visit Tyre, and she will return to her wages and (V)will 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.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 23:1 Hebrew Kittim; also verse 12
  2. Isaiah 23:5 Hebrew they will have labor pains
  3. Isaiah 23:9 The Hebrew words for glory and hosts sound alike
  4. Isaiah 23:13 Or that has become nothing
  5. Isaiah 23:15 Or lifetime

23 The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them.

Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle; thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished.

And by great waters the seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river, is her revenue; and she is a mart of nations.

Be thou ashamed, O Zidon: for the sea hath spoken, even the strength of the sea, saying, I travail not, nor bring forth children, neither do I nourish up young men, nor bring up virgins.

As at the report concerning Egypt, so shall they be sorely pained at the report of Tyre.

Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the isle.

Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.

Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth?

The Lord of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth.

10 Pass through thy land as a river, O daughter of Tarshish: there is no more strength.

11 He stretched out his hand over the sea, he shook the kingdoms: the Lord hath given a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strong holds thereof.

12 And he said, Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon: arise, pass over to Chittim; there also shalt thou have no rest.

13 Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not, till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness: they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof; and he brought it to ruin.

14 Howl, ye ships of Tarshish: for your strength is laid waste.

15 And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot.

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

17 And 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.

18 And 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.

(A)“Son of man, say to (B)the prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord God:

(C)“Because your heart is proud,
    and (D)you have said, ‘I am a god,
I sit in the seat of the gods,
    in the heart of the seas,’
yet (E)you are but a man, and no god,
    (F)though you make your heart like the heart of a god—
(G)you are indeed wiser (H)than (I)Daniel;
    no secret is hidden from you;
by your wisdom and your understanding
    (J)you have made wealth for yourself,
and have gathered gold and silver
    into your treasuries;
by your great wisdom in your trade
    you have increased your wealth,
    and (K)your heart has become proud in your wealth—
therefore thus says the Lord God:
(L)Because you make your heart
    like the heart of a god,
therefore, behold, I will bring (M)foreigners upon you,
    the most ruthless of the nations;
and they shall draw their swords against (N)the beauty of your wisdom
    and defile (O)your splendor.
(P)They shall thrust you down into the pit,
    (Q)and you shall die the death of the slain
    in the heart of the seas.
(R)Will you still say, ‘I am a god,’
    in the presence of those who kill you,
though (S)you are but a man, and no god,
    in the hands of those who slay you?
10 (T)You shall die the death of the uncircumcised
    by the hand of foreigners;
    (U)for I have spoken, declares the Lord God.”

A Lament over the King of Tyre

11 Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me: 12 (V)“Son of man, (W)raise a lamentation over (X)the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord God:

“You were the signet of perfection,[a]
    (Y)full of wisdom and (Z)perfect in beauty.
13 You were in (AA)Eden, the garden of God;
    (AB)every precious stone was your covering,
(AC)sardius, topaz, and diamond,
    beryl, onyx, and jasper,
sapphire,[b] (AD)emerald, and carbuncle;
    and crafted in gold were your settings
    and your engravings.[c]
(AE)On the day that you were created
    they were prepared.
14 You were an anointed (AF)guardian cherub.
    I placed you;[d] you were on (AG)the holy mountain of God;
    in the midst of the stones of fire you walked.
15 You were blameless in your ways
    (AH)from the day you were created,
    till unrighteousness was found in you.
16 In the abundance of (AI)your trade
    you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned;
so I cast you as a profane thing from (AJ)the mountain of God,
    and I destroyed you,[e] (AK)O guardian cherub,
    from the midst of the stones of fire.
17 (AL)Your heart was proud because of (AM)your beauty;
    you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.
I cast you to the ground;
    I exposed you before kings,
    to feast their eyes on you.
18 By the multitude of your iniquities,
    in the unrighteousness of your trade
    you profaned your sanctuaries;
so (AN)I brought fire out from your midst;
    it consumed you,
and I turned you to ashes on the earth
    (AO)in the sight of all who saw you.
19 All who know you among the peoples
    are appalled at you;
(AP)you have come to a dreadful end
    and shall be no more forever.”

Prophecy Against Sidon

20 The word of the Lord came to me: 21 (AQ)“Son of man, (AR)set your face toward (AS)Sidon, and (AT)prophesy against her 22 and say, Thus says the Lord God:

“Behold, (AU)I am against you, O Sidon,
    and (AV)I will manifest my glory in your midst.
And (AW)they shall know that I am the Lord
    (AX)when I execute judgments in her
    and (AY)manifest my holiness in her;
23 for I will send (AZ)pestilence into her,
    and blood into her streets;
and the slain shall fall in her midst,
    by the sword that is against her on every side.
Then they will know that I am the Lord.

24 “And for the house of Israel (BA)there shall be no more a brier to prick or (BB)a thorn to hurt them among all their neighbors (BC)who have treated them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the Lord God.

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Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 28:12 The meaning of the Hebrew phrase is uncertain
  2. Ezekiel 28:13 Or lapis lazuli
  3. Ezekiel 28:13 The meaning of the Hebrew phrase is uncertain
  4. Ezekiel 28:14 The meaning of the Hebrew phrase is uncertain
  5. Ezekiel 28:16 Or banished you

Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord God; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:

Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee:

With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures:

By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:

Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God;

Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.

They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas.

Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee.

10 Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God.

11 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.

13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.

19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.

20 Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

21 Son of man, set thy face against Zidon, and prophesy against it,

22 And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.

23 For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the Lord.

24 And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord God.

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Thus says the Lord:

(A)“For three transgressions of (B)Tyre,
    and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they delivered up a whole people to Edom,
    and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.
10 So I will send a fire upon the wall of (C)Tyre,
    and it shall devour her strongholds.”

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Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Tyrus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant:

10 But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus, which shall devour the palaces thereof.

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