The Burden of Tyre
1 The burden of Tyre. Howl, you ships of Tarshish! For it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in. From the land of Kittim it is revealed to them. 2 Be still, you inhabitants of the coast, you whom the merchants of Sidon that pass over the sea have replenished. 3 On great waters, the seed of the Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, was her revenue. She was the market of nations. 4 Be ashamed, Sidon; for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying, “I have not travailed, nor given birth, neither have I nourished young men, nor brought up virgins.” 5 When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish at the report of Tyre. 6 Pass over to Tarshish! Wail, you inhabitants of the coast! 7 Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days, whose feet carried her far away to travel? 8 Who has planned this against Tyre, the giver of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are the honorable of the earth? 9 Yahweh of Armies has planned it, to stain the pride of all glory, to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth. 10 Pass through your land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish. There is no restraint any more. 11 He has stretched out his hand over the sea. He has shaken the kingdoms. Yahweh has ordered the destruction of Canaan’s strongholds. 12 He said, “You shall rejoice no more, you oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon. Arise, pass over to Kittim. Even there you will have no rest.” 13 Behold, the land of the Chaldeans. This people didn’t exist. The Assyrians founded it for those who dwell in the wilderness. They set up their towers. They overthrew its palaces. They made it a ruin. 14 Howl, you ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold is laid waste! 15 It will come to pass in that day that Tyre will be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king. After the end of seventy years it will be to Tyre like in the song of the prostitute. 16 Take a harp; go about the city, you prostitute that has been forgotten. Make sweet melody. Sing many songs, that you may be remembered. 17 It will happen after the end of seventy years that Yahweh will visit Tyre. She will return to her wages, and will play the prostitute with all the kingdoms of the world on the surface of the earth. 18 Her merchandise and her wages will be holiness to Yahweh. It will not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise will be for those who dwell before Yahweh, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.
The world's trading capital is closed, and the oracle asks who planned it.
The burden of Tyre. Howl, you ships of Tarshish! For it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in. From the land of Kittim it is revealed to them.
The last of the oracles against the nations, and its subject is commerce. Tyre was a Phoenician port built on an island, the hub of Mediterranean shipping, and the ships of Tarshish were the largest ocean-going vessels of the age.
The news reaches them at sea, from Cyprus, on the way home. There is no harbor to come back to.
On great waters, the seed of the Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, was her revenue. She was the market of nations.
Egyptian grain carried by Phoenician ships. Tyre grew nothing and sold everything, which is what a market is.
Be ashamed, Sidon; for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying, “I have not travailed, nor given birth, neither have I nourished young men, nor brought up virgins.”
The sea says it never had children. For a city whose whole life was on the water, the figure is of a mother denying the family — the ports are empty and the sea disowns what it raised.
Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days, whose feet carried her far away to travel?
Tyre was old when Jerusalem was a hill fort, and its colonies reached to Spain.
Who has planned this against Tyre, the giver of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are the honorable of the earth?
The question is the chapter's center. Tyre made kings — it financed them, and its merchants ranked with nobility. Who could plan against an institution like that?
Yahweh of Armies has planned it, to stain the pride of all glory, to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth.
The answer, and it widens past Tyre in the same sentence. What is being brought down is not one port but the class of the honorable everywhere — the people whose standing rests on what they are worth.
It will come to pass in that day that Tyre will be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king. After the end of seventy years it will be to Tyre like in the song of the prostitute.
A lifetime, and then a return.
Take a harp; go about the city, you prostitute that has been forgotten. Make sweet melody. Sing many songs, that you may be remembered.
The restored city is an aging woman working the streets again, singing to be noticed. The image is contemptuous and it describes exactly what a trading city does after a collapse: goes back out and solicits business.
Her merchandise and her wages will be holiness to Yahweh. It will not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise will be for those who dwell before Yahweh, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.
The last verse of the oracles turns, as the Egyptian one did. The profits are not destroyed; they are reassigned — and the reassignment is that they stop being hoarded and start being eaten and worn by people who need food and clothes.
settled What this mark means