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23The oracle concerning Tyre. Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for your fortress is destroyed. When they came in from Cyprus they learned of it. ²Be still, O inhabitants of the coast, O merchants of Sidon, your messengers crossed over the sea ³and were on the mighty waters; your revenue was the grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile; you were the merchant of the nations. ⁴Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken, the fortress of the sea, saying: “I have neither labored nor given birth, I have neither reared young men nor brought up young women.” ⁵When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish over the report about Tyre. ⁶Cross over to Tarshish— wail, O inhabitants of the coast! ⁷Is this your exultant city whose origin is from days of old, whose feet carried her to settle far away? ⁸Who has planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth? ⁹The Lord of hosts has planned it— to defile the pride of all glory, to shame all the honored of the earth. ¹⁰Cross over to your own land, O ships of Tarshish; this is a harbor no more. ¹¹He has stretched out his hand over the sea, he has shaken the kingdoms; the Lord has given command concerning Canaan to destroy its fortresses. ¹²He said: You will exult no longer, O oppressed virgin daughter Sidon; rise, cross over to Cyprus— even there you will have no rest. ¹³Look at the land of the Chaldeans! This is the people; it was not Assyria. They destined Tyre for wild animals. They erected their siege towers, they tore down her palaces, they made her a ruin. ¹⁴Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for your fortress is destroyed.

¹⁵From that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the lifetime of one king. At the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song about the prostitute: ¹⁶Take a harp, go about the city, you forgotten prostitute! Make sweet melody, sing many songs, that you may be remembered. ¹⁷At the end of seventy years, the Lord will visit Tyre, and she will return to her trade, and will prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. ¹⁸Her merchandise and her wages will be dedicated to the Lord; her profits will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who live in the presence of the Lord.

24Now the Lord is about to lay waste the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants. ²And 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; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor. ³The earth shall be utterly laid waste and utterly despoiled; for the Lord has spoken this word. ⁴The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers; the heavens languish together with the earth. ⁵The earth lies polluted under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. ⁶Therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt; therefore the inhabitants of the earth dwindled, and few people are left. ⁷The wine dries up, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted sigh. ⁸The mirth of the timbrels is stilled, the noise of the jubilant has ceased, the mirth of the lyre is stilled. ⁹No longer do they drink wine with singing; strong drink is bitter to those who drink it. ¹⁰The city of chaos is broken down, every house is shut up so that no one can enter. ¹¹There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine; all joy has reached its eventide; the gladness of the earth is banished. ¹²Desolation is left in the city, the gates are battered into ruins.

¹³For thus it shall be on the earth and among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is ended. ¹⁴They lift up their voices, they sing for joy; they shout from the west over the majesty of the Lord. ¹⁵Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord; in the coastlands of the sea glorify the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

¹⁶From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise, of glory to the Righteous One. But I say, I pine away, I pine away. Woe is me! For the treacherous deal treacherously, the treacherous deal very treacherously. ¹⁷Terror, and the pit, and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth! ¹⁸Whoever flees at the sound of the terror shall fall into the pit; and whoever climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare. For the windows of heaven are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble. ¹⁹The earth is utterly broken, the earth is torn asunder, the earth is violently shaken. ²⁰The earth staggers like a drunkard, it sways like a hut; its transgression lies heavy upon it, and it falls, and will not rise again. ²¹On that day the Lord will punish the host of heaven in heaven, and on earth the kings of the earth. ²²They will be gathered together like prisoners in a pit; they will be shut up in a prison, and after many days they will be punished. ²³Then the moon will be abashed, and the sun ashamed; for the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before his elders he will manifest his glory.