The big picture
Tyre, a wealthy coastal trading city, faces ruin in Isaiah's warning. Isaiah speaks as God's prophet. Ships, merchants, and neighbouring ports hear that the place on which they depend has fallen. The loss reaches beyond its walls because many lands share its trade. God names pride as the reason he brings such honour low. After a stated period of neglect, commerce will return. The final promise changes the purpose of its earnings: wealth once gathered for itself will supply those who live before the Lord.
In this chapter
- Sea Traders Hear of a Ruined Port Isaiah 23:1-7
Ships linked with Tarshish, a distant trading destination, are called to mourn.
- God Brings Merchant Honour Low Isaiah 23:8-12
Isaiah asks who planned this fall for a city whose traders had the rank of princes.
- Another Ruined Land Confirms the Warning Isaiah 23:13-14
Attention turns to the Chaldeans, the people of the Babylonian region.
- Restored Trade Serves a Different Purpose Isaiah 23:15-18
Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, measured against a king's lifetime.
Central truth
God brings Tyre's proud trade to ruin, then restores its earnings for the support of those who live in his presence.
Scripture beside the summary
Isaiah · King James Version · 18Isaiah 23:1-7
Sea Traders Hear of a Ruined Port
Ships linked with Tarshish, a distant trading destination, are called to mourn. News from Chittim, a Mediterranean island region, says Tyre has no usable home or harbour. Zidon, its neighbouring coastal city, shares the loss. Grain from Egypt, a kingdom beside the great river to the south, once brought income through this market of nations. Now the sea is pictured denying that it has raised the city's children. People flee far away, and news spreads grief through trading partners. The old and joyful city cannot rely on its long history to preserve its place.
In everyday life
A cargo captain reaches a familiar port and finds the berths closed and the warehouses empty. Traders who depended on the landing wait along the seawall with goods they cannot move. He turns his vessel towards another coast. Isaiah presents Tyre's loss as God's judgement on proud wealth, not a temporary port closure.
Notice
Isaiah 23:7 The city is remembered as both ancient and joyful. Its long past and lively trade make exile more startling, since neither has secured a lasting home.
Isaiah 23:1-7
King James Version1The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them.
2Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle; thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished.
3And by great waters the seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river, is her revenue; and she is a mart of nations.
4Be thou ashamed, O Zidon: for the sea hath spoken, even the strength of the sea, saying, I travail not, nor bring forth children, neither do I nourish up young men, nor bring up virgins.
5As at the report concerning Egypt, so shall they be sorely pained at the report of Tyre.
6Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the isle.
7Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.
Isaiah 23:8-12
God Brings Merchant Honour Low
Isaiah asks who planned this fall for a city whose traders had the rank of princes. The answer is the Lord over all. He intends to humble the pride attached to earthly honour. Places tied to the trade must move on because former strength has gone. God's hand reaches over the sea and shakes kingdoms, commanding the destruction of the city's defences. Flight towards the islands does not promise rest. The judgement reaches the network of prestige and protection on which the merchants relied.
In everyday life
A luxury-auction dealer watches the room fall silent as a ruling exposes the false claims behind its most celebrated collection. Buyers stop bidding, and the special seats reserved for its owners stand empty. Honour built around wealth has lost its footing. Tyre faces ruined defences and flight, not a halt in bidding at one sale.
Notice
Isaiah 23:9 The city's honoured merchants stand beside God's aim to humble pride. Their high rank is part of the warning, not proof that they deserve exemption from it.
Isaiah 23:8-12
King James Version8Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth?
9The LORD of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth.
10Pass through thy land as a river, O daughter of Tarshish: there is no more strength.
11He stretched out his hand over the sea, he shook the kingdoms: the LORD hath given a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strong holds thereof.
12And he said, Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon: arise, pass over to Chittim; there also shalt thou have no rest.
Isaiah 23:13-14
Another Ruined Land Confirms the Warning
Attention turns to the Chaldeans, the people of the Babylonian region. The older wording about Assyria's role in their land is difficult, but the end is clear: towers and palaces are brought to ruin. Assyria is the empire named in this account of destruction. A land with built-up defences has still fallen. The ships tied to Tyre are therefore told again to mourn, because their source of strength is laid waste. The brief example gives the traders another visible reason not to treat their own city as untouchable.
In everyday life
A warehouse appraiser lays photographs of a collapsed storage block across a desk. The owner stops tapping his own thick wall and looks closely at the broken beams. Another building once seemed secure too. He asks her to inspect the roof again. Isaiah gives a divine verdict of ruin, not a warning that repairs can answer.
Notice
Isaiah 23:14 The ships are told to mourn because their strength has been ruined. A vessel's livelihood depends on a network ashore, not only on its ability to stay afloat.
Isaiah 23:13-14
King James Version13Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not, till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness: they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof; and he brought it to ruin.
14Howl, ye ships of Tarshish: for your strength is laid waste.
Isaiah 23:15-18
Restored Trade Serves a Different Purpose
Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, measured against a king's lifetime. Afterwards it is compared with a forgotten prostitute who sings to attract notice again. God will visit the city, and it will return to profitable dealings with the world's kingdoms. The sexual image describes its pursuit of commercial partners. Yet its earnings will no longer be stored up for itself. They will be set apart for the Lord, providing sufficient food and lasting clothing for those who dwell before him. Renewed wealth receives a purpose beyond the city's own prestige.
In everyday life
A market organiser reopens long-closed stalls. She sets the new rent aside for meals and winter clothes at a residents' shelter. Buyers return, but the account book now sends the earnings towards daily needs instead of a private reserve. Tyre's change is God's promised redirection of a trading nation's wealth.
Notice
Isaiah 23:18 The final use of profit is named as food and clothing. Wealth is redirected into sustained provision rather than left as another measure of the city's prestige.
Isaiah 23:15-18
King James Version15And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot.
16Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.
17And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the LORD will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.
18And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the LORD: it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the LORD, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.
Details worth noticing
The opening image
Isaiah 23:1 begins with “The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to…”
Where the chapter turns
Isaiah 23:8 forms a natural hinge: “Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth?”
The final note
Isaiah 23:18 leaves the reader with “And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the LORD: it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell…”
A word trail through the chapter
The words Tyre, LORD, city, Tarshish, earth, Howl help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.
KJV words made clear
- mart
- A trading centre where goods from many places are bought and sold.
- harlot
- A prostitute; the city is compared with one seeking renewed custom.
- merchandise
- Goods bought and sold through trade for profit.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
