Isaiah 23:4 - Prayer Tents

Isaiah 23

A Message about Phoenicia

23This is a message about Tyre. Howl with grief, you sailors out on the ocean! Your home port of Tyre has been destroyed; its houses and its harbor are in ruins. As your ships return from Cyprus, you learn the news.H4853H6865H3213H591H8659H7703H1004H935H776H3794H15402Wail, you merchants of Sidon! You sent agentsH1826H3427H339H5503H6721H5674H3220H43903across the sea to buy and sell the grain that grew in Egypt and to do business with all the nations.H7227H4325H2233H7883H7105H2975H8393H5505H14714City of Sidon, you are disgraced! The sea and the great ocean depths disown you and say, "I never had any children. I never raised sons or daughters."H954H6721H3220H559H4581H3220H559H2342H3205H1431H970H7311H13305Even the Egyptians will be shocked and dismayed when they learn that Tyre has been destroyed.H8088H4714H2342H8088H68656Howl with grief, you people of Phoenicia! Try to escape to Spain!H5674H8659H3213H3427H3397Can this be the joyful city of Tyre, founded so long ago? Is this the city that sent settlers across the sea to establish colonies?H5947H6927H6924H3117H7272H2986H7350H14818Who was it that planned to bring all this on Tyre, that imperial city, whose merchant princes were the most honored men on earth?H3289H6865H5849H5503H8269H3667H3513H7769The LORD Almighty planned it. He planned it in order to put an end to their pride in what they had done and to humiliate their honored ones.H3068H6635H3289H2490H1347H6643H7043H3513H77610Go and farm the land, you people in the colonies in Spain! There is no one to protect you any more.H5674H776H2975H1323H8659H420611The LORD has stretched out his hand over the sea and overthrown kingdoms. He has commanded that the Phoenician centers of commerce be destroyed.H5186H3027H3220H7264H4467H3068H6680H3667H8045H4581H458112City of Sidon, your happiness has ended, and your people are oppressed. Even if they escape to Cyprus, they will still not be safe.H559H3254H5937H6231H1330H1323H6721H6965H5674H3794H511713(It was the Babylonians, not the Assyrians, who let the wild animals overrun Tyre. It was the Babylonians who put up siege towers, tore down the fortifications of Tyre, and left the city in ruins. )H776H3778H5971H804H3245H6728H6965H971H6209H759H7760H465414Howl with grief, you sailors out on the ocean! The city you relied on has been destroyed.H3213H591H8659H4581H770315A time is coming when Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the lifetime of a king. When those years are over, Tyre will be like the prostitute in the song:H3117H6865H7911H7657H8141H3117H259H4428H7093H7657H8141H6865H7892H218116Take your harp, go round the town, you poor forgotten whore! Play and sing your songs again to bring men back once more.H3947H3658H5437H5892H2181H7911H3190H5059H7235H7892H214217When the seventy years are over, the LORD will let Tyre go back to her old trade, and she will hire herself out to all the kingdoms of the world.H7093H7657H8141H3068H6485H6865H7725H868H2181H4467H776H6440H12718The money she earns by commerce will be dedicated to the LORD. She will not store it away, but those who worship the LORD will use her money to buy the food and the clothing they need.H5504H868H6944H3068H686H2630H5504H3427H6440H3068H398H7654H6266H4374