The Hebrew Prophets

And in many waters is the seed of Sihor, The harvest of the brook is her increase, And she is a mart of nations.

Be ashamed, O Zidon; for the sea spake, The strength of the sea, saying: `I have not been pained, nor have I brought forth, Nor have I nourished young men, nor brought up virgins.'

As at the report of Egypt they are pained, So at the report of Tyre.

Pass over to Tarshish, howl, ye inhabitants of the isle,

Is this your exulting one? From the days of old is her antiquity, Carry her do her own feet afar off to sojourn.

Who hath counselled this against Tyre, The crowning one, whose traders are princes, Her merchants the honoured of earth?'

Jehovah of Hosts hath counselled it, To pollute the excellency of all beauty, To make light all the honoured of earth.

Pass through thy land as a brook, Daughter of Tarshish, there is no more a girdle.

His hand He hath stretched out over the sea, He hath caused kingdoms to tremble, Jehovah hath charged concerning the merchant one, To destroy her strong places.

And He saith, `Thou dost not add any more to exult, O oppressed one, virgin daughter of Zidon, To Chittim arise, pass over, Even there--there is no rest for thee.'

Lo, the land of the Chaldeans--this people was not, Asshur founded it for the Ziim, They raised its watch-towers, They lifted up her palaces, --He hath appointed her for a ruin!

Howl, ye ships of Tarshish, For your strength hath been destroyed.

And it hath come to pass, in that day, That forgotten is Tyre seventy years, According to the days of one king. At the end of seventy years there is to Tyre as the song of the harlot.

Take a harp, go round the city, O forgotten harlot, play well, Multiply song that thou mayest be remembered.

And it hath come to pass, At the end of seventy years Jehovah inspecteth Tyre, And she hath repented of her gift, That she committed fornication With all kingdoms of the earth on the face of the ground.

And her merchandise and her gift have been holy to Jehovah, Not treasured up nor stored, For to those sitting before Jehovah is her merchandise, To eat to satiety, and for a lasting covering!

Lo, Jehovah is emptying the land, And is making it waste, And hath overturned it on its face, And hath scattered its inhabitants.

And it hath been--as a people so a priest, As the servant so his master, As the maid-servant so her mistress, As the buyer so the seller, As the lender so the borrower, As the usurer so he who is lifting it on himself.

Utterly emptied is the land, and utterly spoiled, For Jehovah hath spoken this word:

Mourned, faded hath the land, Languished, faded hath the world, Languished have they--the high place of the people of the land.

And the land hath been defiled under its inhabitants, Because they have transgressed laws, They have changed a statute, They have made void a covenant age-during.

Therefore a curse hath consumed the land, And the inhabitants in it are become desolate, Therefore consumed have been inhabitants of the land, And few men have been left.

Mourned hath the new wine, languished the vine, Sighed have all the joyful of heart.

Ceased hath the joy of tabrets, Ceased hath the noise of exulting ones, Ceased hath the joy of a harp.

With a song they drink not wine, Bitter is strong drink to those drinking it.