NOTHING UNGODLY ENDURES
Opening Prayer
Gracious God, your love and power are beyond measure. Thank you that I see them expressed in your grace and mercy toward me each day.
Read ISAIAH 23
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
A Prophecy Against Tyre
23 A prophecy against Tyre:
Wail, you ships of Tarshish!
For Tyre is destroyed
and left without house or harbor.
From the land of Cyprus
word has come to them.
2 Be silent, you people of the island
and you merchants of Sidon,
whom the seafarers have enriched.
3 On the great waters
came the grain of the Shihor;
the harvest of the Nile[a] was the revenue of Tyre,
and she became the marketplace of the nations.
4 Be ashamed, Sidon, and you fortress of the sea,
for the sea has spoken:
“I have neither been in labor nor given birth;
I have neither reared sons nor brought up daughters.”
5 When word comes to Egypt,
they will be in anguish at the report from Tyre.
6 Cross over to Tarshish;
wail, you people of the island.
7 Is this your city of revelry,
the old, old city,
whose feet have taken her
to settle in far-off lands?
8 Who planned this against Tyre,
the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants are princes,
whose traders are renowned in the earth?
9 The Lord Almighty planned it,
to bring down her pride in all her splendor
and to humble all who are renowned on the earth.
10 Till[b] your land as they do along the Nile,
Daughter Tarshish,
for you no longer have a harbor.
11 The Lord has stretched out his hand over the sea
and made its kingdoms tremble.
He has given an order concerning Phoenicia
that her fortresses be destroyed.
12 He said, “No more of your reveling,
Virgin Daughter Sidon, now crushed!
“Up, cross over to Cyprus;
even there you will find no rest.”
13 Look at the land of the Babylonians,[c]
this people that is now of no account!
The Assyrians have made it
a place for desert creatures;
they raised up their siege towers,
they stripped its fortresses bare
and turned it into a ruin.
14 Wail, you ships of Tarshish;
your fortress is destroyed!
15 At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the span of a king’s life. But at the end of these seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:
16 “Take up a harp, walk through the city,
you forgotten prostitute;
play the harp well, sing many a song,
so that you will be remembered.”
17 At the end of seventy years, the Lord will deal with Tyre. She will return to her lucrative prostitution and will ply her trade with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. 18 Yet her profit and her earnings will be set apart for the Lord; they will not be stored up or hoarded. Her profits will go to those who live before the Lord, for abundant food and fine clothes.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 23:3 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls Sidon, / who cross over the sea; / your envoys 3 are on the great waters. / The grain of the Shihor, / the harvest of the Nile,
- Isaiah 23:10 Dead Sea Scrolls and some Septuagint manuscripts; Masoretic Text Go through
- Isaiah 23:13 Or Chaldeans
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Picture your favorite city. What do you love about it?Tyre was already ancient and famous in Isaiah’s time. See Ezekiel chapter 27 for a detailed account of the glories of Tyre. Not everyone enjoys urban settings but there is no denying that, through history, they have been centers of much that is most civilized and wonderful in the world—or, at least, in the material world. It must have been inconceivable to the wealthy merchants of Tyre that, in their own time, their city would be reduced to rubble.
‘Be silent’ (v. 2) is a grim command for a community whose heart should have been the bustle and good cheer of prosperity. Verse 9 confirms that all this activity and worldly achievement was of little account to God. Modern social scientists remind us that many aspects of modern cities are no more permanent or reliable. The New York stock exchange; the London property market; the overcrowding and pollution in Delhi and Dhaka: none of these is established on the eternal values of God’s kingdom.
Tyre still exists today. It has endured years of war and foreign invasions. According to the United Nations, approximately a third of the population are refugees living in three main camps. In the Tyre urban area, 43 percent of Lebanese are living in poverty. Food insecurity has become a major issue. Don’t let anyone tell you that Old Testament prophecy isn’t relevant.
Apply
God understands how to plan cities. Read Revelation chapter 21 verses 2 and 22–27, and praise his name.
Closing prayer
Father in Heaven, although everything around me will pass away, thank you that your love and presence will remain constant forever.
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