Isaiah 23

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¹This message came to me concerning Tyre: Wail, you trading ships of Tarshish, for the harbor and houses of Tyre are gone! The rumors you heard in Cyprus are all true. ✦ ²Mourn in silence, you people of the coast and you merchants of Sidon. Your traders crossed the sea, ✦ ³sailing over deep waters. They brought you grain from Egypt and harvests from along the Nile. You were the marketplace of the world. ✦ ⁴But now you are put to shame, city of Sidon, for Tyre, the fortress of the sea, says, “Now I am childless; I have no sons or daughters.” ✦ ⁵When Egypt hears the news about Tyre, there will be great sorrow. ✦ ⁶Send word now to Tarshish! Wail, you people who live in distant lands! ✦ ⁷Is 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. ✦ ⁸Who has brought this disaster on Tyre, that great creator of kingdoms? Her traders were all princes, her merchants were nobles. ✦ ⁹The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has done it to destroy your pride and bring low all earth’s nobility. ✦ ¹⁰Come, people of Tarshish, sweep over the land like the flooding Nile, for Tyre is defenseless. ✦ ¹¹The Lord held out his hand over the sea and shook the kingdoms of the earth. He has spoken out against Phoenicia, ordering that her fortresses be destroyed. ✦ ¹²He says, “Never again will you rejoice, O daughter of Sidon, for you have been crushed. Even if you flee to Cyprus, you will find no rest.” ✦ ¹³Look at the land of Babylonia— the people of that land are gone! The Assyrians have handed Babylon over to the wild animals of the desert. They have built siege ramps against its walls, torn down its palaces, and turned it to a heap of rubble. ✦ ¹⁴Wail, you ships of Tarshish, for your harbor is destroyed! ✦ ¹⁵For seventy years, the length of a king’s life, Tyre will be forgotten. But then the city will come back to life as in the song about the prostitute: ✦ ¹⁶Take a harp and walk the streets, you forgotten harlot. Make sweet melody and sing your songs so you will be remembered again. ✦ ¹⁷Yes, after seventy years the Lord will revive Tyre. But she will be no different than she was before. She will again be a prostitute to all kingdoms around the world. ✦ ¹⁸But in the end her profits will be given to the Lord. Her wealth will not be hoarded but will provide good food and fine clothing for the Lord’s priests. ✦

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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.

Where this chapter connects

Isa 23 ·11 Ezek 27 ·10 Rev 18 ·9 Ezek 26 ·7 Gen 10 ·6 Ezek 28 ·5 Jer 25 ·5 Isa 2 ·5

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 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.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereVideoBibleProject — video overviews & word studiesBibleProject · 5–10 min · Free · evangelical
Free animated overviews of every book of the Bible, plus themes and Hebrew/Greek word studies — the best visual on-ramp to any book. (Biblical-theology, broadly evangelical, not distinctly Reformed.)
★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Seminary

★ Start hereCommentaryThe Book of Isaiah (NICOT)John N. Oswalt · Paid · evangelical
The standard evangelical commentary on Isaiah — thorough and devotionally warm.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Isaiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Isaiah 23YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Isaiah 23David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on IsaiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Isaiah 23Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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