Articles on

Isaiah 23

Isa. 23:1 KJV (With Strong’s)

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The burden
massa' (Hebrew #4853)
a burden; specifically, tribute, or (abstractly) porterage; figuratively, an utterance, chiefly a doom, especially singing; mental, desire
KJV usage: burden, carry away, prophecy, X they set, song, tribute.
Pronounce: mas-saw'
Origin: from 5375
of Tyre
Tsor (Hebrew #6865)
the same as 6864; a rock; Tsor, a place in Palestine
KJV usage: Tyre, Tyrus.
Pronounce: tsore
Origin: or Tsowr {tsore}
c. Howl
yalal (Hebrew #3213)
to howl (with a wailing tone) or yell (with a boisterous one)
KJV usage: (make to) howl, be howling.
Pronounce: yaw-lal'
Origin: a primitive root
, ye ships
'oniyah (Hebrew #591)
a ship
KJV usage: ship((-men)).
Pronounce: on-ee-yaw'
Origin: feminine of 590
of Tarshish
Tarshiysh (Hebrew #8659)
Tarshish, a place on the Mediterranean, hence, the ephithet of a merchant vessel (as if for or from that port); also the name of a Persian and of an Israelite
KJV usage: Tarshish, Tharshish.
Pronounce: tar-sheesh'
Origin: probably the same as 8658 (as the region of the stone, or the reverse)
; for it is laid waste
shadad (Hebrew #7703)
properly, to be burly, i.e. (figuratively) powerful (passively, impregnable); by implication, to ravage
KJV usage: dead, destroy(-er), oppress, robber, spoil(-er), X utterly, (lay) waste.
Pronounce: shaw-dad'
Origin: a primitive root
, so that there is no house
bayith (Hebrew #1004)
a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etc.)
KJV usage: court, daughter, door, + dungeon, family, + forth of, X great as would contain, hangings, home(born), (winter)house(-hold), inside(-ward), palace, place, + prison, + steward, + tablet, temple, web, + within(-out).
Pronounce: bah'-yith
Origin: probably from 1129 abbreviated
, no entering in
bow' (Hebrew #935)
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)
KJV usage: abide, apply, attain, X be, befall, + besiege, bring (forth, in, into, to pass), call, carry, X certainly, (cause, let, thing for) to come (against, in, out, upon, to pass), depart, X doubtless again, + eat, + employ, (cause to) enter (in, into, -tering, -trance, -try), be fallen, fetch, + follow, get, give, go (down, in, to war), grant, + have, X indeed, (in-)vade, lead, lift (up), mention, pull in, put, resort, run (down), send, set, X (well) stricken (in age), X surely, take (in), way.
Pronounce: bo
Origin: a primitive root
: from the land
'erets (Hebrew #776)
the earth (at large, or partitively a land)
KJV usage: X common, country, earth, field, ground, land, X natins, way, + wilderness, world.
Pronounce: eh'-rets
Origin: from an unused root probably meaning to be firm
of Chittim
Kittiy (Hebrew #3794)
patrial from an unused name denoting Cyprus (only in the plural); a Kittite or Cypriote; hence, an islander in general, i.e. the Greeks or Romans on the shores opposite Palestine
KJV usage: Chittim, Kittim.
Pronounce: kit-tee'
Origin: or Kittiyiy {kit-tee-ee'}
d it is revealed
galah (Hebrew #1540)
to denude (especially in a disgraceful sense); by implication, to exile (captives being usually stripped); figuratively, to reveal
KJV usage: + advertise, appear, bewray, bring, (carry, lead, go) captive (into captivity), depart, disclose, discover, exile, be gone, open, X plainly, publish, remove, reveal, X shamelessly, shew, X surely, tell, uncover.
Pronounce: gaw-law'
Origin: a primitive root
to them.
c
Jer. 25:22• 22and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles that are beyond the sea; (Jer. 25:22)
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Jer. 47:4• 4because of the day that cometh to lay waste all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper that remaineth; for Jehovah will lay waste the Philistines, the remnant of the island of Caphtor. (Jer. 47:4)
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Ezek. 26:2‑21• 2Son of man, because Tyre hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken, the gate of the peoples! she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished now she is laid waste;
3therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth its waves to come up.
4And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers. And I will scrape her dust from her, and make her a bare rock.
5She shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea; for I have spoken it, saith the Lord Jehovah; and she shall become a spoil for the nations.
6And her daughters that are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I am Jehovah.
7For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will bring from the north, against Tyre, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, the king of kings, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and an assemblage, and much people.
8He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field, and he shall make forts against thee, and cast up a mound against thee, and lift up the target against thee;
9and he shall set his engines of attack against thy walls, and with his spikes he shall break down thy towers.
10By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee; thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter through thy gates, as a city is entered into, wherein is made a breach.
11With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets; he shall slay thy people by the sword, and the pillars of thy strength shall go down to the ground.
12And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy wares; and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses; and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the waters.
13And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard.
14And I will make thee a bare rock; thou shalt be a place for the spreading of nets; thou shalt be built no more: for I Jehovah have spoken it, saith the Lord Jehovah.
15Thus saith the Lord Jehovah to Tyre: Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded groan, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee?
16And all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay aside their robes, and put off their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling, they shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble every moment, and be astonied because of thee.
17And they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and say to thee, How hast thou perished, that wast inhabited from the seas, O renowned city, which wast strong in the sea,--she and her inhabitants, who caused their terror to be on all them that dwell therein!
18Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; and the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure.
19For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I bring up the deep upon thee, and the great waters cover thee:
20then will I bring thee down, with them that go down to the pit, to the people of old time, and will cause thee to dwell in the lower parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I will set glory in the land of the living.
21And I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more; and thou shalt be sought for, and shalt never be found again, for ever, saith the Lord Jehovah.
(Ezek. 26:2‑21)
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Amos 1:9‑10• 9Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I will not revoke its sentence; because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant.
10And I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.
(Amos 1:9‑10)
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Zech. 9:2‑4• 2and also on Hamath which bordereth thereon; on Tyre and Zidon, though she be very wise.
3And Tyre hath built herself a stronghold, and hath heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets.
4Behold, the Lord will take possession of her, and he will smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire.
(Zech. 9:2‑4)

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Cross References

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Ministry on This Verse

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1-14:  The miserable overthrow of Tyre.
15-18:  Her restoration and whoredoms.
A.M. 3289.
B.C. 715.
burden.Tyre, whose destruction by Nebuchadnezzar is here foretold, was a city of Phoenicia, on the shore of the Mediterranean, twenty-four miles south of Sidon, and thirty-two north of Accho or Ptolemais, according to the Antonine and Jerusalem Itineraries, about lat. 33 degrees 18' N. long. 35 degrees 10' E.
There were two cities of this name; one on the continent called Palæ Tyrus, or Old Tyre, according to Strabo, thirty stadia south of the other, which was situated on an island, not above 700 paces from the main land, says Pliny.
Old Tyre was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, after a siege of thirteen years, B.C. 573, which he so utterly destroyed, that it never afterwards rose higher than a village.
But previous to this, the inhabitants had removed their effects to the island which afterwards became so famous by the name of Tyre, though now consisting only of about 800 dwellings.
Jer. 25:15,22• 15For thus hath Jehovah the God of Israel said unto me: Take the cup of the wine of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations to whom I send thee to drink it.
22and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles that are beyond the sea;
(Jer. 25:15,22)
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Jer. 47:4• 4because of the day that cometh to lay waste all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper that remaineth; for Jehovah will lay waste the Philistines, the remnant of the island of Caphtor. (Jer. 47:4)
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Ezek. 26:1‑28:25• 1And it came to pass in the eleventh year, on the first of the month, that the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
2Son of man, because Tyre hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken, the gate of the peoples! she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished now she is laid waste;
3therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth its waves to come up.
4And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers. And I will scrape her dust from her, and make her a bare rock.
5She shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea; for I have spoken it, saith the Lord Jehovah; and she shall become a spoil for the nations.
6And her daughters that are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I am Jehovah.
7For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will bring from the north, against Tyre, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, the king of kings, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and an assemblage, and much people.
8He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field, and he shall make forts against thee, and cast up a mound against thee, and lift up the target against thee;
9and he shall set his engines of attack against thy walls, and with his spikes he shall break down thy towers.
10By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee; thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter through thy gates, as a city is entered into, wherein is made a breach.
11With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets; he shall slay thy people by the sword, and the pillars of thy strength shall go down to the ground.
12And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy wares; and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses; and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the waters.
13And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard.
14And I will make thee a bare rock; thou shalt be a place for the spreading of nets; thou shalt be built no more: for I Jehovah have spoken it, saith the Lord Jehovah.
15Thus saith the Lord Jehovah to Tyre: Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded groan, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee?
16And all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay aside their robes, and put off their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling, they shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble every moment, and be astonied because of thee.
17And they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and say to thee, How hast thou perished, that wast inhabited from the seas, O renowned city, which wast strong in the sea,--she and her inhabitants, who caused their terror to be on all them that dwell therein!
18Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; and the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure.
19For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I bring up the deep upon thee, and the great waters cover thee:
20then will I bring thee down, with them that go down to the pit, to the people of old time, and will cause thee to dwell in the lower parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I will set glory in the land of the living.
21And I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more; and thou shalt be sought for, and shalt never be found again, for ever, saith the Lord Jehovah.
1And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying:
2And thou, son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyre,
3and say unto Tyre: O thou that art situate at the entries of the sea, and traffickest with the peoples in many isles, thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Thou, Tyre, hast said, I am perfect in beauty.
4Thy borders are in the heart of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty.
5They made all thy double boards of cypress-trees of Senir; they took cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee.
6Of the oaks of Bashan did they make thine oars; they made thy benches of ivory, inlaid in box-wood, out of the isles of Chittim.
7Byssus with broidered work from Egypt was thy sail, to serve thee for a banner; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was thine awning.
8The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy rowers; thy wise men, O Tyre, who were in thee, were thy pilots.
9The elders of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee repairing thy leaks; all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee, to barter with thee.
10Persia and Lud and Phut were in thine army, thy men of war: they hanged shield and helmet in thee; they gave splendour to thee.
11The children of Arvad with thine army were upon thy walls round about, and the Gammadim were on thy towers: they hanged their shields upon thy walls round about; they made thy beauty perfect.
12Tarshish dealt with thee by reason of the abundance of all substance; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they furnished thy markets.
13Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy traffickers: they bartered with thee the persons of men, and vessels of bronze.
14They of the house of Togarmah furnished thy markets with horses, and horsemen, and mules.
15The children of Dedan were thy traffickers; many isles were the mart of thy hand: they rendered in payment horns of ivory, and ebony.
16Syria dealt with thee for the multitude of thy handiworks: they traded in thy markets with carbuncles, purple, and broidered work, and fine linen, and corals, and rubies.
17Judah and the land of Israel were thy traffickers: they bartered with thee wheat of Minnith, and sweet cakes, and honey, and oil, and balm.
18Damascus dealt with thee because of the multitude of thy handiworks, by reason of the abundance of all substance, with wine of Helbon, and white wool.
19Vedan and Javan of Uzal traded in thy markets: wrought iron, cassia, and calamus were in thy traffic.
20Dedan was thy trafficker in precious riding-cloths.
21Arabia and all the princes of Kedar were the merchants of thy hand: in lambs, and rams, and goats, in these did they trade with thee.
22The merchants of Sheba and Raamah were thy traffickers: they furnished thy markets with all the choice spices, and with all precious stones and gold.
23Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad traded with thee:
24these traded with thee in sumptuous clothes, in wrappings of blue and broidered work, and in chests full of variegated stuffs, bound with cords and made of cedar-wood, amongst thy merchandise.
25The ships of Tarshish were thy caravans for thy traffic; and thou wast replenished, and highly honoured, in the heart of the seas.
26Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters; the east wind hath broken thee in the heart of the seas.
27Thy substance, and thy markets, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, they that repair thy leaks, and they that barter with thee, and all thy men of war that are in thee, along with all thine assemblage which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the heart of the seas in the day of thy fall.
28The open places shall shake at the sound of the cry of thy pilots.
29And all that handle the oar, the mariners, all the pilots of the sea, shall come down from their ships; they shall stand upon the land,
30and shall cause their voice to be heard over thee, and shall cry bitterly; and they shall cast up dust upon their heads; they shall wallow themselves in ashes.
31And they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee, and gird themselves with sackcloth; and they shall weep for thee in bitterness of soul with bitter mourning.
32And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and lament over thee, saying, Who is like Tyre, like her that is destroyed in the midst of the sea?
33When thy wares went forth over the seas, thou filledst many peoples; thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with the abundance of thy substance and of thy merchandise.
34In the time when thou art broken by the seas, in the depths of the waters, thy merchandise and all thine assemblage in the midst of thee have fallen.
35All the inhabitants of the isles are amazed at thee, and their kings are horribly afraid, their countenance is troubled.
36The merchants among the peoples hiss at thee; thou art become a terror, and thou shalt never be any more.
1And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
2Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyre, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because thy heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a *god, I sit in the seat of God, in the heart of the seas, (and thou art a man, and not *God,) and thou settest thy heart as the heart of God:
3behold, thou art wiser than Daniel! nothing secret is obscure for thee;
4by thy wisdom and by thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures;
5by thy great wisdom thou hast by thy traffic increased thy riches, and thy heart is lifted up because of thy riches.
6Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because thou hast set thy heart as the heart of God,
7therefore behold, I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations; and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall tarnish thy brightness.
8They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of those that are slain in the heart of the seas.
9Wilt thou then say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and not *God, in the hand of him that pierceth thee.
10Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised, by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord Jehovah.
11And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
12Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyre, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Thou, who sealest up the measure of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty,
13thou wast in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was thy covering: the sardius, the topaz, and the diamond, the chrysolite, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the carbuncle, and the emerald, and gold. The workmanship of thy tambours and of thy pipes was in thee: in the day that thou wast created were they prepared.
14Thou wast the anointed covering cherub, and I had set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou didst walk up and down in the midst of stones of fire.
15Thou wast perfect in thy ways, from the day that thou wast created, till unrighteousness was found in thee.
16By the abundance of thy traffic they filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned; therefore have I cast thee as profane from the mountain of God, and have destroyed thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
17Thy heart was lifted up because of thy beauty; thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I have cast thee to the ground, I have laid thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
18By the multitude of thine iniquities, by the unrighteousness of thy traffic, thou hast profaned thy sanctuaries: and I have brought forth a fire out of the midst of thee--it hath consumed thee; and I have brought thee to ashes upon the earth, in the sight of all them that behold thee.
19All they that know thee among the peoples shall be amazed at thee: thou art become a terror, and thou shalt never be any more.
20And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
21Son of man, set thy face towards Zidon, and prophesy against it,
22and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, Zidon, and I will be glorified in the midst of thee; and they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be hallowed in her.
23And I will send into her the pestilence, and blood in her streets; and the wounded shall fall in the midst of her, by the sword upon her on every side: and they shall know that I am Jehovah.
24And there shall be no more a wounding sting for the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn, among all that were round about them, that despised them: and they shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah.
25Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and shall be hallowed in them in the sight of the nations, then shall they dwell in their land which I have given to my servant Jacob.
(Ezek. 26:1‑28:25)
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Joel 3:4‑8• 4Yea also, what have ye to do with me, O Tyre and Zidon, and all the districts of Philistia? Will ye render me a recompence? But if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I bring your recompence upon your own head;
5because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my beautiful pleasant things,
6and the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the children of the Greeks, that ye might remove them far from their border.
7Behold, I will raise them up out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will bring your recompence upon your own head.
8And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far off: for Jehovah hath spoken.
(Joel 3:4‑8)
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Amos 1:9‑10• 9Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I will not revoke its sentence; because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant.
10And I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.
(Amos 1:9‑10)
;
Zech. 9:2,4• 2and also on Hamath which bordereth thereon; on Tyre and Zidon, though she be very wise.
4Behold, the Lord will take possession of her, and he will smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire.
(Zech. 9:2,4)
Howl.
ye ships.
for it is.
the land.
 The series of burdens ends in chapter 23 with “The burden of Tyre.” In those days this very ancient city was the great center of trade and commerce. (Isaiah 23 by F.B. Hole)

J. N. Darby Translation

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1
The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish! for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, none entering in. From the land of Chittimd it is revealed to them.

JND Translation Notes

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d
Cyprus, as Num. 24.24.