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On great waters, the seed of the Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, was her revenue. She was the market of nations.
Isaiah 23:3 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV And by great waters the seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river, is her revenue; and she is a mart of nations.
  • BSB On the great waters came the grain of Shihor; the harvest of the Nile was the revenue of Tyre; she was the merchant of the nations.
  • NKJV And on great waters the grain of Shihor, The harvest of the River, is her revenue; And she is a marketplace for the nations.
  • NASB And were on many waters. The grain of the Nile, the harvest of the River was her revenue; And she was the market of nations.
  • NLT sailing over deep waters. They brought you grain from Egypt and harvests from along the Nile. You were the marketplace of the world.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Tyre grew rich by trading the grain of Egypt, becoming the marketplace of the nations. Her wealth was vast but rested on God's providence she did not acknowledge.

Overview

The Nile's harvest, carried across great waters, made Tyre a hub for international commerce. Her revenue flowed from the produce of nations. Scripture exposes the pride of a city that gloried in trade while forgetting the God who governs the seas.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 11

  • Jer 2:18Now what do you gain by going to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? Or why do you to go on the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?
  • 1 Chr 13:5So David assembled all Israel together, from the Shihor the brook of Egypt even to the entrance of Hamath, to bring God’s ark from Kiriath Jearim.
  • Ezek 27:33When your wares went out of the seas, you filled many peoples; you enriched the kings of the earth with the multitude of your riches and of your merchandise.
  • Isa 23:8Who has planned this against Tyre, the giver of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honorable of the earth?
  • Joel 3:5Because you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my finest treasures into your temples,
  • Deut 11:10For the land, where you go in to possess it, isn’t as the land of Egypt, that you came out of, where you sowed your seed, and watered it with your foot, as a garden of herbs;
  • Rev 18:11–13The merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise any more;
  • Isa 32:20Blessed are you who sow beside all waters, who send out the feet of the ox and the donkey.
  • Ezek 27:3–23and tell Tyre, you who dwell at the entry of the sea, who are the merchant of the peoples to many islands, thus says the Lord Yahweh: You, Tyre, have said, I am perfect in beauty.
  • Isa 19:7The meadows by the Nile, by the brink of the Nile, and all the sown fields of the Nile, will become dry, be driven away, and be no more.
  • Ezek 28:4by your wisdom and by your understanding you have gotten yourself riches, and have gotten gold and silver into your treasures;

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Isaiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Isaiah 23:3YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on IsaiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).

How Isaiah 23:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.