4Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken,
the fortress of the sea, saying:
“I have neither labored nor given birth,
I have neither reared young men
nor brought up young women.”
5When the report comes to Egypt,
they will be in anguish over the report about Tyre.
6Cross over to Tarshish—
wail, O inhabitants of the coast!
7Is this your exultant city
whose origin is from days of old,
whose feet carried her
to settle far away?
8Who has planned this
against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants were princes,
whose traders were the honored of the earth?
9The LORD of hosts has planned it—
to defile the pride of all glory,
to shame all the honored of the earth.
10Cross over to your own land,
O ships ofc Tarshish;
this is a harbord no more.
11He has stretched out his hand over the sea,
he has shaken the kingdoms;
the LORD has given command concerning Canaan
to destroy its fortresses.
12He said:
You will exult no longer,
O oppressed virgin daughter Sidon;
rise, cross over to Cyprus—
even there you will have no rest.
13Look at the land of the Chaldeans! This is the people; it was not Assyria. They destined Tyre for wild animals. They erected their siege towers, they tore down her palaces, they made her a ruin.e
14Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for your fortress is destroyed.
15From that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the lifetime of one king. At the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song about the prostitute:
16Take a harp,
go about the city,
you forgotten prostitute!
Make sweet melody,
sing many songs,
that you may be remembered.
17At the end of seventy years, the LORD will visit Tyre, and she will return to her trade, and will prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. 18Her merchandise and her wages will be dedicated to the LORD; her profitsf will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who live in the presence of the LORD.
next chapter
* * *
a Cn Compare verse 14: Heb for it is destroyed, without houses
b Q Ms: MT crossing over the sea, they replenished you
c Cn Compare Gk: Heb like the Nile, daughter
d Cn: Heb restraint
e Meaning of Heb uncertain
f Heb it
23.1–18 The original oracle against Tyre probably reflects an Assyrian campaign against Phoenicia, possibly that of Tiglath-pileser III (734 BCE) or Sennacherib (701).
23.1 Tarshish, a seaport in the western Mediterranean, probably Tartessus in southern Spain. Cyprus traded with Phoenicia.
23.2 Sidon, a neighboring city to Tyre.
23.3 Shihor, an area in the Egyptian Delta along the Pelusiac arm of the Nile.
23.4 Sidon is left barren without inhabitants.
23.5–11 Tyre’s trading partners will lament their loss of trade with devastated Phoenicia.
23.7 Settle far away. Phoenician settlers founded colonies in Cyprus, North Africa, and other distant sites in the Mediterranean.
23.13 This verse is a later gloss (perhaps the time of Nebuchadnezzar, 605–562 BCE; see Ezek 26–28) that attributes the destruction of Tyre to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, rather than Assyria.
23.15–18 These verses are probably also from the Babylonian period.
23.17 Seventy years. See Jer 25.11–12; a seventy year period of judgment is also predicted for Babylon in a text of Esarhaddon. Prostitute herself, make whatever international agreements are necessary for economic gain.
23.18 Tyre’s future wealth, however, will be dedicated to God.
ISAIAH 24
Impending Judgment on the Earth
1Now the LORD is about to lay waste the earth and make it desolate,
and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.
2And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest;
as with the slave, so with his master;
as with the maid, so with her mistress;
as with the buyer, so with the seller;
as with the lender, so with the borrower;
as with the creditor, so with the debtor.
3The earth shall be utterly laid waste and utterly despoiled;
for the LORD has spoken this word.
4The earth dries up and withers,
the world languishes and withers;
the heavens languish together with the earth.
5The earth lies polluted
under its inhabitants;
for they have transgressed laws,
violated the statutes,
broken the everlasting covenant.
6Therefore a curse devours the earth,
and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt;
therefore the inhabitants of the earth dwindled,
and few people are left.
7The wine dries up,
the vine languishes,
all the merry-hearted sigh.
8The mirth of the timbrels is stilled,
the noise of the jubilant has ceased,
the mirth of the lyre is stilled.
9No longer do they drink wine with singing;
strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
10The city of chaos is broken down,
every house is shut up so that no one can enter.
11There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine;
all joy has reached its eventide;
the gladness of the earth is banished.
12Desolation is left in the city,
the gates are battered into ruins.
13For thus it shall be on the earth
and among the nations,
as when an olive tree is beaten,
as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is ended.
14They lift up their voices, they sing for joy;
they shout from the west over the majesty of the LORD.
15Therefore in the east give glory to the LORD;
in the coastlands of the sea glorify the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
16From the ends of the earth we hear songs
of praise, of glory to the Righteous One.
But I say, I pine away,
I pine away. Woe is me!
For the treacherous deal treacherously,
the treacherous deal very treacherously.
17Terror, and the pit, and the snare
are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth!
18Whoever flees at the sound of the terror
shall fall into the pit;
and whoever climbs out of the pit
shall be caught in the snare.
For the windows of heaven are opened,
and the foundations of the earth tremble.
19The earth is utterly broken,
the earth is torn asunder,
the earth is violently shaken.
20The earth staggers like a drunkard,
it sways like a hut;
its transgression lies heavy upon it,
and it falls, and will not rise again.
21On that day the LORD will punish
the host of heaven in heaven,
and on earth the kings of the earth.
22They will be gathered together
like prisoners in a pit;
they will be shut up in a prison,
and after many days they will be punished.
23Then the moon will be abashed,
and the sun ashamed;
for the LORD of hosts will reign
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and before his elders he will manifest his glory.
next chapter
* * *
24.1–27.13 The Isaiah Apocalypse. The designation is due to the fact that these chapters, usually attributed to a period at least a hundred years later than the eighth-century BCE Isaiah of Jerusalem, contain a number of themes popular in later apocalyptic writings. Older Isaian material has been reworked in developing these themes, however.
24.1–23 The earth is about to be laid waste in a universal judgment.
24.2 Cf. Hos 4.9.
24.4–6 The whole creation suffers because of human transgressions (33.8–9; Hos 4.1–3).
24.7–11 The vineyards dry up, ending the mirth of the drinking parties (1.11–12; 32.9–14).
24.10 City of chaos, a portrait of a society so disrupted by famine that every house is shut up against normal social intercourse (3.1–8).
24.13 Survivors will be as rare as the gleaning after a fruit harvest (17.6).
24.14–16 While the whole world praises God’s glory, the prophet complains that the judgment has not yet ended the treachery of the evil oppressors.
24.17–23 Universal judgment will overtake the whole world as God manifests his rule on Mount Zion in Jerusalem.
24.17–18b See the identical imagery in Jer 48.43–44; cf. Am 5.18–19.
24.18c Windows of heaven are opened, imagery taken from the Genesis story of Noah and the flood (see Gen 7.11). There may also be an allusion here to an incident in Canaanite myth in which Baal enters his temple, opens a window, and “utters his voice” (i.e., thunders), whereupon the earth quakes and his enemies flee.
24.18d–20 Earthquake imagery.
24.21–23 The judgment embraces the pagan gods as well as their human worshipers.
24.21 Host of heaven, astral deities (Jer 19.13; Zeph 1.5).
24.22 Pit, the underworld, where God’s enemies are imprisoned until the final judgment (14.15; Rev 20.1–3).
24.23 The moon…abashed, the sun ashamed, two of the astral deities (Deut 17.3) responding to God’s rebuke. Elders. See Ex 24.9–11.
ISAIAH 25
Praise for Deliverance from Oppression
1O LORD, you are my God;
I will exalt you, I will praise your name;
for you have done wonderful things,
plans formed of old, faithful and sure.
2For you have made the city a heap,
the fortified city a ruin;
the palace of aliens is a city no more,
it will never be rebuilt.
3Therefore strong peoples will glorify you;
cities of ruthless nations will fear you.
4For you have been a refuge to the poor,
a refuge to the needy in their distress,
a shelter from the rainstorm and a shade from the heat.
When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rainstorm,
5the noise of aliens like heat in a dry place,
you subdued the heat with the shade of clouds;
the song of the ruthless was stilled.
6On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines,
of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.
7And he will destroy on this mountain
the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
the sheet that is spread over all nations;
8he will swallow up death forever.
Then the Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces,
and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the LORD has spoken.
9It will be said on that day,
Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us.
This is the LORD for whom we have waited;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
10For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain.
The Moabites shall be trodden down in their place
as straw is trodden down in a dung-pit.
11Though they spread out their hands in the midst of it,
as swimmers spread out their hands to swim,
their pride will be laid low despite the strugglea of their hands.
12The high fortifications of his walls will be brought down,
laid low, cast to the ground, even to the dust.
next chapter
* * *
a Meaning of Heb uncertain
25.1–5 A psalm praising God for saving the weak by his judgment on the mighty oppressors.
25.1 Plans formed of old, an old Isaian theme (14.24–27).
25.2 Whether a specific city is in mind is unclear; for the imagery, see 17.1.
25.4 Poor, needy. See 14.30, 32.
25.4c–5 For this imagery of protection from storm and heat, see 4.6; 32.2.
25.6–10a God prepares a joyous banquet for all peoples on his royal mountain.
25.6 This mountain, Mount Zion, the site of God’s royal rule (24.23). Feast. A new king celebrated his accession by providing a feast for his supporters (1 Kings 1.24–25); cf. the banquet before God on Mount Sinai (Ex 24.9–11). The motif suggests a new level of communion and intimacy between God and human subjects.
25.7 Destroy, swallow up, translations of the same Hebrew verb meaning to “swallow up.” The notion of God’s swallowing up death is a reversal of a Canaanite mythological motif in which death “swallows” everything (see 5.14; cf. 1 Cor 15.54–57). Shroud and sheet do not designate burial garments. They are usually taken to refer to garments worn by mourners, but they may refer to the curtains in the tabernacle or temple that shielded the inner sanctum from public view (Ex 26.36; 27.16; Num 3.31), since humans could not look upon God and live (Ex 33.20). In either case, they symbolize the alienation between God and humans that is removed by God’s destruction of death.
25.8 Wipe away the tears. See Rev 7.17; 21.4.
25.10b–12 Moab, Judah’s hostile neighbor, will be cast down to drown in shame as in a dung heap.
ISAIAH 26
Judah’s Song of Victory
1On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
We have a strong city;
he sets up victory
like walls and bulwarks.
2Open the gates,
so that the righteous nation that keeps faith
may enter in.
3Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace—
in peace because they trust in you.
4Trust in the LORD forever,
for in the LORD GODa
you have an everlasting rock.
5For he has brought low
the inhabitants of the height;
the lofty city he lays low.
He lays it low to the ground,
casts it to the dust.
6The foot tramples it,
the feet of the poor,
the steps of the needy.
7The way of the righteous is level;
O Just One, you make smooth the path of the righteous.
8In the path of your judgments,
O LORD, we wait for you;
your name and your renown
are the soul’s desire.
9My soul yearns for you in the night,
my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.
For when your judgments are in the earth,
the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
10If favor is shown to the wicked,
they do not learn righteousness;
in the land of uprightness they deal perversely
and do not see the majesty of the LORD.
11O LORD, your hand is lifted up,
but they do not see it.
Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed.
Let the fire for your adversaries consume th
em.
12O LORD, you will ordain peace
for us, for indeed, all that we have done, you have done for us.
13O LORD our God,
other lords besides you have ruled over us,
but we acknowledge your name alone.
14The dead do not live;
shades do not rise—
because you have punished and destroyed them,
and wiped out all memory of them.
15But you have increased the nation, O LORD,
you have increased the nation; you are glorified;
you have enlarged all the borders of the land.
16O LORD, in distress they sought you,
they poured out a prayerb
when your chastening was on them.
17Like a woman with child,
who writhes and cries out in her pangs
when she is near her time,
so were we because of you, O LORD;
18we were with child, we writhed,
but we gave birth only to wind.
We have won no victories on earth,
and no one is born to inhabit the world.
19Your dead shall live, their corpsesc shall rise.
O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy!
For your dew is a radiant dew,
and the earth will give birth to those long dead.d
20Come, my people, enter your chambers,
and shut your doors behind you;
hide yourselves for a little while
until the wrath is past.
21For the LORD comes out from his place
to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;
the earth will disclose the blood shed on it,
and will no longer cover its slain.
next chapter
* * *
a Heb in Yah, the LORD
b Meaning of Heb uncertain
c Cn Compare Syr Tg: Heb my corpse
d Heb to the shades
26.1–6 A processional song celebrating God’s defense of Jerusalem and his defeat of its enemies (cf. Pss 24; 46; 48).
26.2 Righteous nation, a reformed Judah.
26.5 Cf. the humiliation of Jerusalem in 29.4.
HarperCollins Study Bible Page 257