Is this your jubilant city, whose origin is from antiquity, whose feet have taken her to settle far away?
Parallel translations
- WEB Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days, whose feet carried her far away to travel?
- KJV Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.
- NKJV Is this your joyous city, Whose antiquity is from ancient days, Whose feet carried her far off to dwell?
- NASB Is this your jubilant city, Whose origin is from antiquity, Whose feet used to bring her to colonize distant places?
- NLT Is this silent ruin all that is left of your once joyous city? What a long history was yours! Think of all the colonists you sent to distant places.
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
Isaiah asks in irony whether this ruined place is really the ancient, joyous city whose colonists spread far. Her long history could not preserve her.
Overview
Tyre's antiquity and her far-flung colonies across the Mediterranean were sources of pride. The rhetorical question contrasts her former glory with present desolation. Age and reach cannot shield a city from the Lord's appointed judgment.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Isa 22:2O city of commotion, O town of revelry? Your slain did not die by the sword, nor were they killed in battle.
- Eccl 10:7I have seen slaves on horseback, while princes go on foot like slaves.
- Isa 32:13and for the land of my people, overgrown with thorns and briers—even for every house of merriment in this city of revelry.
- Josh 19:29The border then turned back toward Ramah as far as the fortified city of Tyre, turned toward Hosah, and came out at the Sea in the region of Achzib,
- Isa 47:1–2“Go down and sit in the dust, O Virgin Daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O Daughter of Chaldea! For you will no longer be called tender or delicate.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 23:7 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
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