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Isaiah 23:1-4
New Catholic Bible
Isaiah 23:1-4
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 23
Tyre and Sidon[a]
1 An oracle concerning Tyre:
Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for your harbor has been destroyed.
From the land of Cyprus
the news has reached them.
2 Be silent, you who dwell along the coast,
you merchants of Sidon,
whose messengers crossed over the sea
3 to the vast ocean.
The grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile
provided your revenue;
you were the merchant for the nations.
4 Be ashamed, O Sidon, the fortress of the sea,
for the sea has declared:
“I have not endured the anguish of labor,
nor have I given birth;
I have not reared young men
or brought up young women.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 23:1 Two songs oddly combined, one by Isaiah (vv. 1-4, 12-14), the other of much more recent date (vv. 5-11); the two describe the fall of Tyre and Sidon, the capitals of maritime trade. Sennacherib destroyed Sidon around 701 B.C. In the sixth century, Nebuchadnezzar, and later on (in 332 B.C.) Alexander, would besiege the impregnably fortified island of Tyre.