Yesaya 23:1

The Lord Will Judge Tyre

23:1 Here is a message about Tyre:

Wail, you large ships, ¹ 

for the port is too devastated to enter! ² 

From the land of Cyprus ³  this news is announced to them.

Amos 1:9-10

1:9 This is what the Lord says:

“Because Tyre has committed three crimes ⁴  –

make that four! ⁵  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ⁶ 

They sold ⁷  a whole community ⁸  to Edom;

they failed to observe ⁹  a treaty of brotherhood. ¹⁰ 

1:10 So I will set fire to Tyre’s city wall; ¹¹ 

fire ¹²  will consume her fortresses.”

Zakharia 9:2-4

9:2 as are those of Hamath also, which adjoins Damascus, and Tyre ¹³  and Sidon, ¹⁴  though they consider themselves to be very wise. 9:3 Tyre built herself a fortification and piled up silver like dust and gold like the mud of the streets! 9:4 Nevertheless the Lord will evict her and shove her fortifications ¹⁵  into the sea – she will be consumed by fire.

[23:1]  ¹ tn Heb “ships of Tarshish.” This probably refers to large ships either made in or capable of traveling to the distant western port of Tarshish.

[23:1]  ² tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “for it is destroyed, from a house, from entering.” The translation assumes that the mem (מ) on בַּיִת (bayit) was originally an enclitic mem suffixed to the preceding verb. This assumption allows one to take בַּיִת as the subject of the preceding verb. It is used in a metaphorical sense for the port city of Tyre. The preposition min (מִן) prefixed to בּוֹא (bo’) indicates negative consequence: “so that no one can enter.” See BDB 583 s.v. מִן 7.b.

[23:1]  ³ tn Heb “the Kittim,” a designation for the people of Cyprus. See HALOT 504-05 s.v. כִּתִּיִּים.

[1:9]  ⁴ tn Traditionally, “transgressions” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV) or “sins” (NIV). For an explanation of the atrocities outlined in this oracle as treaty violations of God’s mandate to Noah in Gen 9:5-7, see the note on the word “violations” in 1:3.

[1:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “Because of three violations of Tyre, even because of four.”

[1:9]  sn On the three…four style that introduces each of the judgment oracles of chaps. 1-2 see the note on the word “four” in 1:3.

[1:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “I will not bring it [or “him”] back.” The translation understands the pronominal object to refer to the decree of judgment that follows; the referent (the decree) has been specified in the translation for clarity. For another option see the note on the word “judgment” in 1:3.

[1:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “handed over.”

[1:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “[group of] exiles.” A similar phrase occurs in v. 6.

[1:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “did not remember.”

[1:9]  ¹⁰ sn A treaty of brotherhood. In the ancient Near Eastern world familial terms were sometimes used to describe treaty partners. In a treaty between superior and inferior parties, the lord would be called “father” and the subject “son.” The partners in a treaty between equals referred to themselves as “brothers.” For biblical examples, see 1 Kgs 9:13; 20:32-33.

[1:10]  ¹¹ sn The city wall symbolizes the city’s defenses and security.

[1:10]  ¹² tn Heb “it”; the referent (the fire mentioned in the previous line) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:2]  ¹³ map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[9:2]  ¹⁴ map For location see Map1 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[9:4]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew word חַיִל (khayil, “strength, wealth”) can, with certain suffixes, look exactly like חֵל (khel, “fortress, rampart”). The chiastic pattern here suggests that not Tyre’s riches but her defenses will be cast into the sea. Thus the present translation renders the term “fortifications” (so also NLT) rather than “wealth” (NASB, NRSV, TEV) or “power” (NAB, NIV).