23:1 Here is a message about Tyre:
Wail, you large ships,¹
for the house is too destroyed to enter.²
From the land of Cyprus³ this news is announced to them.
23:2 Lament,⁴ you residents of the coast,
you merchants of Sidon who travel over the sea,
whose agents sail over 23:3 the deep waters.⁵
Grain from the Shihor region,⁶
crops grown near the Nile⁷ she receives;⁸
she is the nations’ trade center.⁹
23:4 Be ashamed, O Sidon,
for the sea¹⁰ says this, O fortress of the sea:
“I have not gone into labor
or given birth;
I have not raised young men,
or brought up young women.”¹¹
23:5 When the news reaches Egypt,
they will be shaken by what has happened to Tyre.¹²
23:6 Travel to Tarshish!
Wail, you residents of the coast!
23:7 Is this really your boisterous city,¹³
whose origins are in the distant past?¹⁴
and whose feet led her to a distant land to reside?
23:8 Who planned this for royal Tyre,¹⁵
whose merchants are princes,
whose traders are the dignitaries¹⁶ of the earth?
23:9 The LORD who leads armies planned it,
to dishonor the pride that comes from all her beauty,¹⁷
to humiliate all the dignitaries of the earth.
23:10 Daughter Tarshish, travel back to your land, as one crosses the Nile;
there is no longer any market place in Tyre.¹⁸
23:11 The LORD stretched out his hand over the sea,¹⁹
he shook kingdoms;
he²⁰ gave the order
to destroy Canaan’s fortresses.²¹
23:12 He said,
“You will no longer celebrate,
oppressed²² virgin Daughter Sidon.
Get up, travel to Cyprus,
but you will find no relief there.”²³
23:13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans,
these people who have lost their identity!²⁴
The Assyrians have made it a home for wild animals.
They erected their siege towers,²⁵
demolished²⁶ its fortresses,
and turned it into a heap of ruins.²⁷
23:14 Wail, you large ships,²⁸
for your fortress is destroyed.
23:15 At that time²⁹ Tyre will be forgotten for 70 years,³⁰ the typical life span of a king.³¹ At the end of 70 years Tyre will try to attract attention again, like the prostitute in the popular song:³²
23:16 “Take the harp,
go through the city,
forgotten prostitute!
Play it well,
play lots of songs,
so you’ll be noticed!”³³

23:17 At the end of 70 years the LORD will revive³⁴ Tyre. She will start making money again by selling her services to all the earth’s kingdoms.³⁵ 23:18 Her profits and earnings will be set apart for the LORD. They will not be stored up or accumulated, for her profits will be given to those who live in the LORD’s presence and used to purchase large quantities of food and beautiful clothes.³⁶