Isaiah 23
Contemporary English Version
The City of Tyre Will Be Punished
23 (A) This is a message from distant islands about the city of Tyre:[a]
Cry, you seagoing ships![b]
Tyre and its houses
lie in ruins.[c]
2 Mourn in silence,
you shop owners of Sidon,[d]
you people on the coast.
Your sailors crossed oceans,
making your city rich.
3 Your merchants sailed the seas,
making you wealthy by trading
with nation after nation.
They brought back grain
that grew along the Nile.[e]
4 Sidon, you are a mighty fortress
built along the sea.
But you will be disgraced
like a married woman
who never had children.[f]
5 When Egypt hears about Tyre,
it will tremble.
6 All of you along the coast
had better cry and sail
far across the ocean.[g]
7 Can this be the happy city
that has stood for centuries?
Its people have spread
to distant lands;
8 its merchants were kings
honored all over the world.
Who planned to destroy Tyre?
9 The Lord All-Powerful planned it
to bring shame and disgrace
to those who are honored
by everyone on earth.
10 People of Tyre,[h]
your harbor is destroyed!
You will have to become farmers
just like the Egyptians.[i]
Tyre Will Be Forgotten
11 The Lord's hand has reached
across the sea,
upsetting the nations.
He has given a command
to destroy fortresses
in the land of Canaan.
12 The Lord has said
to the people of Sidon,
“Your celebrating is over—
you are crushed.
Even if you escape to Cyprus,
you won't find peace.”
13 Look what the Assyrians have done to Babylonia! They have attacked, destroying every palace in the land. Now wild animals live among the ruins.[j] 14 Not a fortress will be left standing, so tell all the seagoing ships[k] to mourn.
15 The city of Tyre will be forgotten for 70 years, which is the lifetime of a king. Then Tyre will be like that evil woman in the song:
16 You're gone and forgotten,
you evil woman!
So strut through the town,
singing and playing
your favorite tune
to be remembered again.
17 At the end of those 70 years, the Lord will let Tyre get back into business. The city will be like a woman who sells her body to everyone of every nation on earth, 18 but none of what is earned will be kept in the city. That money will belong to the Lord, and it will be used to buy more than enough food and good clothes for those who worship the Lord.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 23.1 Tyre: A fortress city built on an island in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of what is now Lebanon.
- 23.1 seagoing ships: See the note at 2.16.
- 23.1 Tyre … ruins: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 23.2 Sidon: A coastal city just north of Tyre.
- 23.3 along the Nile: The Hebrew text has “grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile,” but Shihor is probably a name for a region near the lower part of the Nile.
- 23.4 children: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 23.6 far across the ocean: The Hebrew text has “to Tarshish,” probably meaning a long distance.
- 23.10 People of Tyre: The Hebrew text has “the people of Tarshish,” which stands for the colonies of Tyre.
- 23.10 Egyptians: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 10.
- 23.13 ruins: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 13.
- 23.14 seagoing ships: See the note at 2.16.
Joel 3:4-8
Contemporary English Version
4 (A) You people of Tyre and Sidon[a] and you Philistines, why are you doing this? Are you trying to get even with me? I'll strike back before you know what's happened. 5 You've taken my prized possessions, including my silver and gold, and carried them off to your temples.[b] 6 You have dragged the people of Judah and Jerusalem from their land and sold them to the Greeks.
7 But I'll make the people of Judah determined to come home, and what happened to them will happen to you. 8 I'll hand over your sons and daughters to the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans,[c] who live far away. I, the Lord, have spoken!
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Amos 1:9
Contemporary English Version
Judgment on Phoenicia
9 (A) The Lord said:
I will punish Phoenicia[a]
for countless crimes,
and I won't change my mind.
They broke their treaty
and dragged off my people[b]
from town after town
to sell them as slaves
to the Edomites.
Amos 1:10
Contemporary English Version
10 That's why I will send flames
to burn down the city of Tyre
along with its fortresses.
Zechariah 9:1-4
Contemporary English Version
Israel's Enemies Will Be Punished
9 (A)(B) This is a message
from the Lord:
His eyes are on everyone,
especially the tribes
of Israel.[a]
So he pronounces judgment
against the cities
of Hadrach and Damascus.[b]
2 Judgment will also fall
on the nearby city
of Hamath,
as well as on Tyre and Sidon,[c]
whose people are clever.
3 Tyre has built a fortress
and piled up silver and gold,
as though they were dust
or mud from the streets.
4 Now the Lord will punish Tyre
with poverty;
he will sink its ships
and send it up in flames.
Matthew 11:21
Contemporary English Version
21 (A) You people of Chorazin are in for trouble! You people of Bethsaida are in for trouble too! If the miracles that took place here had happened in Tyre and Sidon, the people there would have turned to God long ago. They would have dressed in sackcloth and put ashes on their heads.[a]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 11.21 sackcloth … ashes on their heads: This was one way that people showed how sorry they were for their sins.
Matthew 11:22
Contemporary English Version
22 I tell you on the day of judgment the people of Tyre and Sidon will get off easier than you will.
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Luke 10:13
Contemporary English Version
The Unbelieving Towns
(Matthew 11.20-24)
13 (A) You people of Chorazin are in for trouble! You people of Bethsaida are also in for trouble! If the miracles that took place in your towns had happened in Tyre and Sidon, the people there would have turned to God long ago. They would have dressed in sackcloth and put ashes on their heads.[a]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 10.13 dressed in sackcloth … ashes on their heads: This was one way that people showed how sorry they were for their sins.
Luke 10:14
Contemporary English Version
14 On the day of judgment the people of Tyre and Sidon will get off easier than you will.
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