An Oracle Concerning Tyre and Sidon

23 The ioracle concerning jTyre.

Wail, O kships of Tarshish,

for Tyre is laid waste, lwithout house or harbor!

From mthe land of Cyprus1

it is revealed to them.

2  Be still, O inhabitants of the coast;

the merchants of nSidon, who cross the sea, have filled you.

3  And on many waters

your revenue was the grain of Shihor,

the harvest of the Nile;

you were othe merchant of the nations.

4  Be ashamed, O nSidon, for the sea has spoken,

the stronghold of the sea, saying:

“I have neither labored nor given birth,

I have neither reared young men

nor brought up young women.”

5  When the report comes to Egypt,

they will be in anguish2 over the report about Tyre.

6  pCross over to Tarshish;

wail, O inhabitants of the coast!

7  Is this your exultant city

qwhose origin is from days of old,

whose feet carried her

to settle far away?

8  Who has purposed this

against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,

whose merchants were princes,

whose traders were the honored of the earth?

9  The Lord of hosts has purposed it,

rto defile the pompous pride of all glory,3

to dishonor all the honored of the earth.

10  Cross over your land like the Nile,

O daughter of Tarshish;

there is no restraint anymore.

11  sHe has stretched out his hand over the sea;

he has shaken the kingdoms;

the Lord has given command concerning Canaan

to destroy its strongholds.

12  And he said:

“You will no more exult,

O oppressed virgin daughter of tSidon;

arise, ucross over to vCyprus,

even there you will have no rest.”

13 Behold the land of wthe Chaldeans! This is the people that was not;4 Assyria destined it for wild beasts. They erected xtheir siege towers, they stripped her palaces bare, they made her a ruin.

14  yWail, O ships of Tarshish,

for your stronghold is laid waste.

15 In that day Tyre will be forgotten for zseventy years, like the days5 of one king. At the end of zseventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:

16  “Take a harp;

go about the city,

O forgotten prostitute!

Make sweet melody;

sing many songs,

that you may be remembered.”

17 At the end of aseventy years, the Lord will visit Tyre, and she will return to her wages and bwill prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. 18 Her merchandise and her wages will be holy to the Lord. It will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who dwell before the Lord.

Judgment on the Whole Earth

24 Behold, cthe Lord will empty the earth1 and make it desolate,

and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.

2  dAnd 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;

eas with the buyer, so with the seller;

as with the lender, so with the borrower;

fas with the creditor, so with the debtor.

3  gThe earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered;

hfor the Lord has spoken this word.

4  iThe earth mourns and withers;

the world languishes and withers;

the highest people of the earth languish.

5  The earth lies jdefiled

under its inhabitants;

for kthey have transgressed the laws,

violated the statutes,

broken the everlasting covenant.

6  Therefore la curse devours the earth,

and its inhabitants msuffer for their guilt;

therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched,

and few men are left.

7  nThe wine mourns,

the vine languishes,

all the merry-hearted sigh.

8  oThe mirth of the tambourines is stilled,

the noise of the jubilant has ceased,

the mirth of the lyre is stilled.

9  No more do they drink wine pwith singing;

strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.

10  qThe wasted city is broken down;

revery house is shut up so that none can enter.

11  sThere is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine;

tall joy has grown dark;

the gladness of the earth is banished.

12  Desolation is left in the city;

the gates are battered into ruins.

13  For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth

among the nations,

uas when an olive tree is beaten,

as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is done.

14  They lift up their voices, they sing for joy;

over the majesty of the Lord they shout from the west.2

15  vTherefore in the east3 give glory to the Lord;

in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

16  wFrom the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise,

of glory to xthe Righteous One.

But I say, “I waste away,

I waste away. Woe is me!

For ythe traitors have betrayed,

with betrayal the traitors have betrayed.”

17  zTerror and the pit and the snare4

are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth!

18  zHe who flees at the sound of the terror

shall fall into the pit,

and he who climbs out of the pit

shall be caught in the snare.

For athe windows of heaven are opened,

and bthe foundations of the earth tremble.

19  The earth is utterly broken,

the earth is split apart,

the earth is violently shaken.

20  The earth cstaggers like a drunken man;

it sways like a hut;

dits transgression lies heavy upon it,

and it falls, and will not rise again.

21  On that day the Lord will punish

the host of heaven, in heaven,

and ethe kings of the earth, on the earth.

22  fThey will be gathered together

as prisoners in a pit;

they will be shut up in a prison,

and after many days gthey will be punished.

23  hThen the moon will be confounded

and the sun ashamed,

for ithe Lord of hosts reigns

on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,

and his glory will be before his elders.

God Will Swallow Up Death Forever

25 O Lord, jyou are my God;

kI will exalt you; I will praise your name,

for you have done wonderful things,

lplans formed of old, faithful and sure.

2  For you have made the city ma heap,

the fortified city a ruin;

the foreigners’ palace is a city no more;

it will never be rebuilt.

3  nTherefore strong peoples will glorify you;

cities of ruthless nations will fear you.

4  oFor you have been a stronghold to the poor,

a stronghold to the needy in his distress,

pa shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat;

qfor the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall,

5  rlike heat in a dry place.

You subdue the noise of the foreigners;

as heat by the shade of a cloud,

so the song of the ruthless is put down.

6  sOn this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples

a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,

tof rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.

7  And he will swallow up son this mountain

the covering that is cast over all peoples,

uthe veil that is spread over all nations.

8  vHe will swallow up death forever;

and wthe Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,

and xthe reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,

yfor the Lord has spoken.

9  It will be said on that day,

“Behold, this is our God; zwe have waited for him, that he might save us.

This is the Lord; we have waited for him;

alet us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

10  For the hand of the Lord will rest son this mountain,

and bMoab shall be trampled down in his place,

as straw is trampled down in a dunghill.1

11  cAnd he will spread out his hands in the midst of it

as a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim,

but the Lord dwill lay low his pompous pride together with the skill2 of his hands.

12  And the high fortifications of his walls he will bring down,

lay low, and cast to the ground, to the dust.

You Keep Him in Perfect Peace

26 In that day ethis song will be sung in the land of Judah:

“We have a strong city;

he sets up fsalvation

as walls and bulwarks.

2  gOpen the gates,

that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.

3  hYou keep him in perfect peace

whose mind is stayed on you,

because he trusts in you.

4  Trust in the Lord forever,

for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.

5  iFor he has humbled

the inhabitants of the height,

the lofty city.

He lays it low, lays it low to the ground,

casts it to the dust.

6  The foot tramples it,

the feet of jthe poor,

the steps of jthe needy.”

7  The path of the righteous is level;

kyou make level the way of the righteous.

8  In the path of your judgments,

O Lord, we wait for you;

lyour name and lremembrance

are the desire of our soul.

9  My soul yearns for you in the night;

my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.

mFor when your judgments are in the earth,

the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

10  nIf favor is shown to the wicked,

he does not learn righteousness;

in the land of uprightness he deals corruptly

and does not see the majesty of the Lord.

11  O Lord, oyour hand is lifted up,

but pthey do not see it.

Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed.

Let qthe fire for your adversaries consume them.

12  O Lord, you will ordain rpeace for us,

for you have indeed done for us all our works.

13  O Lord our God,

sother lords besides you have ruled over us,

tbut your name alone we bring to remembrance.

14  They are dead, they will not live;

they are shades, they will not arise;

to that end you have visited them with destruction

and wiped out all remembrance of them.

15  uBut you have increased the nation, O Lord,

you have increased the nation; you are glorified;

vyou have enlarged all the borders of the land.

16  O Lord, win distress they sought you;

they poured out a whispered prayer

when your discipline was upon them.

17  xLike a pregnant woman

who writhes and cries out in her pangs

when she is near to giving birth,

so were we because of you, O Lord;

18  xwe were pregnant, we writhed,

but we have given birth to wind.

We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth,

and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.

19  yYour dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.

You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!

For zyour dew is a dew of light,

and the earth will give birth to the dead.

20  Come, my people, enter your chambers,

and shut your doors behind you;

hide yourselves afor a little while

until the fury has passed by.

21  bFor behold, the Lord is coming out from his place

to punish the inhabitants of cthe earth for their iniquity,

and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it,

and will no more cover its slain.

The Redemption of Israel

27 In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong dsword will punish eLeviathan the fleeing serpent, eLeviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay fthe dragon that is in the sea.

2  In that day,

g“A pleasant vineyard,1 hsing of it!

3  I, the Lord, am its keeper;

every moment I water it.

Lest anyone punish it,

I keep it night and day;

4  I have no wrath.

iWould that I had thorns and briers to battle!

I would march against them,

I would burn them up together.

5  Or let them lay hold of my protection,

let them make peace with me,

let them make peace with me.”

6  jIn days to come2 Jacob shall take root,

Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots

and fill the whole world with fruit.

7  kHas he struck them las he struck those who struck them?

Or have they been slain mas their slayers were slain?

8  nMeasure by measure,3 by exile you contended with them;

ohe removed them with his fierce breath4 in the day of the east wind.

9  Therefore by this pthe guilt of Jacob will be atoned for,

and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:5

qwhen he makes all the stones of the altars

like chalkstones crushed to pieces,

no rAsherim or incense altars will remain standing.

10  sFor the fortified city is solitary,

a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness;

there the calf grazes;

there it lies down and strips its branches.

11  When its boughs are dry, they are broken;

women come and make a fire of them.

tFor this is a people without discernment;

therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them;

he who formed them will show them no favor.

12 In that day ufrom the river Euphrates6 to the Brook of Egypt the Lord will thresh out the grain, and you will be gleaned one by one, O people of Israel. 13 And in that day va great trumpet will be blown, wand those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt xwill come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.