The Hebrew Prophets

On the great waters came the grain of Shihor; the harvest of the Nile was the revenue of Tyre; she was the merchant of the nations.

Be ashamed, O Sidon, the stronghold of the sea, for the sea has spoken: “I have not been in labor or given birth. I have not raised young men or brought up young women.”

When the report reaches Egypt, they will writhe in agony over the news of Tyre.

Cross over to Tarshish; wail, O inhabitants of the coastland!

Is this your jubilant city, whose origin is from antiquity, whose feet have taken her to settle far away?

Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose traders are princes, whose merchants are renowned on the earth?

The LORD of Hosts planned it, to defile all its glorious beauty, to disgrace all the renowned of the earth.

Cultivate your land like the Nile, O Daughter of Tarshish; there is no longer a harbor.

The LORD has stretched out His hand over the sea; He has made kingdoms tremble. He has given a command that the strongholds of Canaan be destroyed.

He said, “You shall rejoice no more, O oppressed Virgin Daughter of Sidon. Get up and cross over to Cyprus— even there you will find no rest.”

Look at the land of the Chaldeans— a people now of no account. The Assyrians destined it for the desert creatures; they set up their siege towers and stripped its palaces. They brought it to ruin.

Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for your harbor has been destroyed!

At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years—the span of a king’s life. But at the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot:

“Take up your harp, stroll through the city, O forgotten harlot. Make sweet melody, sing many a song, so you will be remembered.”

And at the end of seventy years, the LORD will restore Tyre. Then she will return to hire as a prostitute and sell herself to all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.

Yet her profits and wages will be set apart to the LORD; they will not be stored or saved, for her profit will go to those who live before the LORD, for abundant food and fine clothing.

Behold, the LORD lays waste the earth and leaves it in ruins. He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants—

people and priest alike, servant and master, maid and mistress, buyer and seller, lender and borrower, creditor and debtor.

The earth will be utterly laid waste and thoroughly plundered. For the LORD has spoken this word.

The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and fades; the exalted of the earth waste away.

The earth is defiled by its people; they have transgressed the laws; they have overstepped the decrees and broken the everlasting covenant.

Therefore a curse has consumed the earth, and its inhabitants must bear the guilt; the earth’s dwellers have been burned, and only a few survive.

The new wine dries up, the vine withers. All the merrymakers now groan.

The joyful tambourines have ceased; the noise of revelers has stopped; the joyful harp is silent.

They no longer sing and drink wine; strong drink is bitter to those who consume it.