A Prophecy against Tyre (Isaiah 23:1–18)
1 CPDV And it happened that, in the eleventh year, on the first of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying: BSB BSB: In the eleventh month of the twelfth year, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
2 CPDV “Son of man, because Tyre has said about Jerusalem: ‘It is Well! The gates of the peoples have been broken! She has been turned toward me. I will be filled. She will be deserted!’ BSB BSB: “Son of man, because Tyre has said of Jerusalem, ‘Aha! The gate to the nations is broken; it has swung open to me; now that she lies in ruins I will be filled,’
3 CPDV because of this, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and I will cause many nations to rise up against you, just as the waves of the sea rise up. BSB BSB: therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, O Tyre, I am against you, and I will raise up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves.
4 CPDV And they will break apart the walls of Tyre, and they will destroy its towers. And I will scrape her dust from her, and I will make her into the barest rock. BSB BSB: They will destroy the walls of Tyre and demolish her towers. I will scrape the soil from her and make her a bare rock.
5 CPDV She will be a drying place for nets from the midst of the sea. For I have spoken, says the Lord God. And she will be a spoil for the Gentiles. BSB BSB: She will become a place to spread nets in the sea, for I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD. She will become plunder for the nations,
6 CPDV Likewise, her daughters who are in the field will be slain by the sword. And they shall know that I am the Lord. BSB BSB: and the villages on her mainland will be slain by the sword. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’
7 CPDV For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will lead into Tyre: Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, a king among kings, from the north, with horses, and chariots, and horsemen, and companies, and a great people. BSB BSB: For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I will bring against Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses and chariots, with cavalry and a great company of troops.
8 CPDV Your daughters who are in the field, he will kill with the sword. And he will surround you with fortifications, and he will put together a rampart on all sides. And he will lift up a shield against you. BSB BSB: He will slaughter the villages of your mainland with the sword; he will set up siege works against you, build a ramp to your walls, and raise his shields against you.
9 CPDV And he will combine moveable shelters and battering rams before your walls, and he will destroy your towers with his armaments. BSB BSB: He will direct the blows of his battering rams against your walls and tear down your towers with his axes.
10 CPDV He will cover you with the inundation of his horses and with their dust. Your walls will shake at the sound of horsemen and wheels and chariots, when they will have entered your gates, as if through the entrance of a city that has been broken open. BSB BSB: His multitude of horses will cover you in their dust. When he enters your gates as an army entering a breached city, your walls will shake from the noise of cavalry, wagons, and chariots.
11 CPDV With the hoofs of his horses, he will trample all your streets. He will cut down your people with the sword, and your noble statues will fall to the ground. BSB BSB: The hooves of his horses will trample all your streets. He will slaughter your people with the sword, and your mighty pillars will fall to the ground.
12 CPDV They will lay waste to your wealth. They will despoil your businesses. And they will tear down your walls and overturn your eminent houses. And they will put your stones and your timber and your dust into the midst of the waters. BSB BSB: They will plunder your wealth and pillage your merchandise. They will demolish your walls, tear down your beautiful homes, and throw your stones and timber and soil into the water.
13 CPDV And I will cause the multitude of your songs to cease. And the sound of your stringed instruments will no longer be heard. BSB BSB: So I will silence the sound of your songs, and the music of your lyres will no longer be heard.
14 CPDV And I will make you like the barest rock; you will be a drying place for nets. And you will no longer be built up. For I have spoken, says the Lord God.” BSB BSB: I will make you a bare rock, and you will become a place to spread the fishing nets. You will never be rebuilt, for I, the LORD, have spoken, declares the Lord GOD.’
15 CPDV Thus says the Lord God to Tyre: “Will not the islands shake at the sound of your ruin and at the groans of your slain, when they will have been cut down in your midst? BSB BSB: This is what the Lord GOD says to Tyre: ‘Will not the coastlands quake at the sound of your downfall, when the wounded groan at the slaughter in your midst?
16 CPDV And all the leaders of the sea will descend from their thrones. And they will cast aside their outer garments and their colorful clothing, and they will be clothed in stupor. They will sit on the ground, and they will wonder with astonishment at your sudden downfall. BSB BSB: All the princes of the sea will descend from their thrones, remove their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments. Clothed with terror, they will sit on the ground, trembling every moment, appalled over you.
17 CPDV And taking up a lamentation over you, they will say to you: ‘How could you have perished, you who live in the sea, the famous city that was strong in the sea, with your inhabitants, of whom the whole world was in dread?’ BSB BSB: Then they will lament for you, saying, “How you have perished, O city of renown inhabited by seafaring men—she who was powerful on the sea, along with her people, who imposed terror on all peoples!
18 CPDV Now the ships will be stupefied, in the day of your terror. And the islands of the sea will be disturbed, because no one goes out from you. BSB BSB: Now the coastlands tremble on the day of your downfall; the islands in the sea are dismayed by your demise.”’
19 CPDV For thus says the Lord God: When I will have made you a desolate city, like the cities that are uninhabited, and when I will have led the abyss over you, and many waters will have covered you, BSB BSB: For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘When I make you a desolate city like other deserted cities, and when I raise up the deep against you so that the mighty waters cover you,
20 CPDV and when I will have dragged you down with those who descend into the pit to the everlasting people, and when I will have assembled you in the lowest parts of the earth, like the desolate places of antiquity, with those who have been brought down into the pit, so that you will be uninhabited, and moreover, when I will have given glory to the land of the living: BSB BSB: then I will bring you down with those who descend to the Pit, to the people of antiquity. I will make you dwell in the earth below like the ancient ruins, with those who descend to the Pit, so that you will no longer be inhabited or set in splendor in the land of the living.
21 CPDV I will reduce you to nothing, and you shall not be, and if you are sought, you will no longer be found, in perpetuity, says the Lord God.” BSB BSB: I will make you an object of horror, and you will be no more. You will be sought, but will never be found,’ declares the Lord GOD.”
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.