Is this your joyous city, Whose antiquity is from ancient days, Whose feet carried her far off to dwell?
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.
- BSB Is this your jubilant city, whose origin is from antiquity, whose feet have taken her to settle far away?
- 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 22:2You that are full of shouting, a tumultuous city, a joyous town; your slain are not slain with the sword, neither are they dead in battle.
- Eccl 10:7I have seen servants on horses, and princes walking like servants on the earth.
- Isa 32:13Thorns and briers will come up on my people’s land; yes, on all the houses of joy in the joyous city.
- Josh 19:29The border turned to Ramah, to the fortified city of Tyre; and the border turned to Hosah. It ended at the sea by the region of Achzib;
- Isa 47:1–2“Come down, and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans. For you will no longer be called tender and delicate.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 23:7 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
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.