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Isaiah 23

Isaiah announces YHWH’s judgment on Tyre’s commercial pride and his claim over the wealth of its restored trade.

Tyre’s trading ships receive news that their port has been laid waste. Isaiah’s oracle addresses the coastal peoples whose wealth depends on this market of nations, including Sidon, and describes Egypt’s anguish at the report. YHWH of Armies has planned the downfall of Tyre’s proud glory. The closing verses look beyond seventy years of neglect: Tyre will resume trading, and its earnings will become holy to YHWH, providing food and clothing for those who dwell before him.

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1The burden of Tyre. Howl, you ships of Tarshish! For it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in. From the land of Kittim it is revealed to them.
2Be still, you inhabitants of the coast, you whom the merchants of Sidon that pass over the sea have replenished.
3On great waters, the seed of the Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, was her revenue. She was the market of nations.
4Be ashamed, Sidon; for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying, “I have not travailed, nor given birth, neither have I nourished young men, nor brought up virgins.”
5When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish at the report of Tyre.
6Pass over to Tarshish! Wail, you inhabitants of the coast!
7Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days, whose feet carried her far away to travel?
8Who has planned this against Tyre, the giver of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are the honorable of the earth?
9The LORD of Armies has planned it, to stain the pride of all glory, to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth.
10Pass through your land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish. There is no restraint any more.
11He has stretched out his hand over the sea. He has shaken the kingdoms. The LORD has ordered the destruction of Canaan’s strongholds.
12He said, “You shall rejoice no more, you oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon. Arise, pass over to Kittim. Even there you will have no rest.”
13Behold, the land of the Chaldeans. This people didn’t exist. The Assyrians founded it for those who dwell in the wilderness. They set up their towers. They overthrew its palaces. They made it a ruin.
14Howl, you ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold is laid waste!
15It will come to pass in that day that Tyre will be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king. After the end of seventy years it will be to Tyre like in the song of the prostitute.
16Take a harp; go about the city, you prostitute that has been forgotten. Make sweet melody. Sing many songs, that you may be remembered.
17It will happen after the end of seventy years that the LORD will visit Tyre. She will return to her wages, and will play the prostitute with all the kingdoms of the world on the surface of the earth.
18Her merchandise and her wages will be holiness to the LORD. It will not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise will be for those who dwell before the LORD, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Isaiah 23:1The opening summons to howl announces Tyre’s devastation through the ships whose trade depended on its port.
Isaiah 23:9This verse names YHWH as the planner of Tyre’s downfall and identifies its proud glory as his target.
Isaiah 23:18The closing verse places Tyre’s restored earnings under YHWH’s claim, directing them toward provision for those before him.
Where this chapter reaches

Ezekiel also speaks judgment against Tyre, linking the city’s wealth and maritime trade with pride and ruin. Revelation shares Isaiah’s picture of merchants and seafarers mourning a fallen center of trade, though its city bears the name Babylon.

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After reading the whole chapter

What does Tyre’s fall expose about the kinds of wealth or status you regard as secure?

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What changes between Tyre’s wealth at the beginning and the use of its earnings at the end?

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Questions people ask about Isaiah 23

What do the seventy years mean in Isaiah 23?

The seventy years mark a period when Tyre will be forgotten before YHWH visits it and trade resumes. The text compares this span to the days of one king, but it does not name that king or give dates. Its precise historical starting and ending points remain disputed.

Why is Tyre compared to a prostitute in Isaiah 23?

The song portrays a forgotten prostitute seeking attention again. Isaiah uses that image for Tyre’s return to trade with the world’s kingdoms after seventy years. The closing verse then assigns its earnings to YHWH and to the needs of those before him. The image does not endorse prostitution.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).