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oracle concerning Tyre.
Wail, O ships of Tarshish!
For your haven is destroyed,
and left without house or harbour;
From the land of Cyprus
word has reached them.
2 Be still, O inhabitants of the coastland,
O merchants of Sidon,
your agents have crossed over the sea.
3 On the mighty waters
came the grain of Shihor,
the harvest of the Nile is Tyre’s revenue,
and she was the marketplace for the nations.
4 Be ashamed, O Sidon, stronghold of the sea;
for the sea has spoken:
“I have neither laboured, nor brought forth children,
I have neither raised up young men,
nor brought up young women.”
5 When the report comes to Egypt,
they will be in anguish over the news about Tyre.
6 Cross over to Tarshish;
wail, O inhabitants of the coastland!
7 Is this your city of revelries,
whose origins are from days of old,
whose feet have taken her
far off to settle?
8 Who has planned this against Tyre,
the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants are princes,
whose traders are the honoured of the earth?
9 The Lord of Hosts has planned it,
to desecrate the pride of all glory,
to disgrace all the honoured of the earth.
10 Overflow your land like the Nile,
O daughter of Tarshish;
for your restraint is no more.
11 He stretched out His hand over the sea,
he shook the kingdoms;
The Lord has issued a command against Canaan,
that its fortresses be destroyed.
12 He said: “You will rejoice no longer,
O you ravished Virgin Daughter of Sidon.
Arise, cross over to Cyprus,
even there you will find no rest.”
13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans,
this people who now are no more.
Assyria assigned it
for the wild beasts of the desert.
They raised up their siegetowers,
they tore down her palaces,
they made it a ruin.
14 Wail, O ships of Tarshish;
for your fortress is destroyed!
15 It will happen at that time that Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the span of a king’s life.
But at the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:
16 “Take up a harp, walk through the city,
O forgotten prostitute;
make sweet melody, sing many songs,
so you will be remembered.”
17 Then at the end of seventy years, the Lord will remember Tyre. She will return to her trade, and prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. 18 Yet her profit and her wages will be set apart for the Lord; they will not be stored up or hoarded. Her increase will go to those live in the presence of the Lord, for the provision of abundant food and fine clothing.