Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.
Parallel translations
- WEB Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days, whose feet carried her far away to travel?
- BSB Is this your jubilant city, whose origin is from antiquity, whose feet have taken her to settle far away?
- 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 22:2Thou that art full of stirs, a tumultuous city, a joyous city: thy slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle.
- Eccl 10:7I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth.
- Isa 32:13Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city:
- Josh 19:29And then the coast turneth to Ramah, and to the strong city Tyre; and the coast turneth to Hosah; and the outgoings thereof are at the sea from the coast to Achzib:
- Isa 47:1–2Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.
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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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