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Isaiah 23 Bible study: The burden of Tyre

"Who has planned this against Tyre?" The answer uses the question's own words: the LORD of Armies planned "to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth" (23:9). And the burden that begins with howling ships ends with Tyre's wages "holiness to the LORD" (23:18), in Hebrew the words engraved on the high priest's gold plate (Exodus 28:36).

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“The LORD of Armies has planned it, to stain the pride of all glory, to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth.”
Isaiah 23:9 · World English Bible

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“In Isaiah 23, the words "the honorable of the earth" are in both 23:8 and 23:9.”

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What's really going on

"The burden of Tyre"

In the text

The chapter opens with a heading: "The burden of Tyre" (23:1) (tap burden). It is the last in the run of burdens that began with "The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw" (Isaiah 13:1); the book has one more, over "the animals of the South" (Isaiah 30:6). Then comes a call: "Howl, you ships of Tarshish! For it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in" (23:1) (tap Howl, ships, laid waste). The chapter speaks to the coast and to Sidon, and of Egypt: "Be still, you inhabitants of the coast, you whom the merchants of Sidon that pass over the sea have replenished" (23:2), "Be ashamed, Sidon" (23:4), "When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish at the report of Tyre" (23:5), "Pass over to Tarshish! Wail, you inhabitants of the coast!" (23:6). Here is what almost everyone misses: before the chapter turns to "that day" (23:15), it closes with the call it began with. "Howl, you ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold is laid waste!" (23:14). The chapter says, "She was the market of nations" (23:3), and these notes add no history of Tyre from outside the Bible.

Honest questions

Questions people ask about Isaiah 23

That was a taste

The rest of Isaiah 23 is waiting in Favor

  • "Who has planned this against Tyre?"
  • His hand over the sea
  • Forgotten, and then holiness to the LORD
  • The ships of Tarshish in Isaiah
  • "HOLY TO THE LORD"
  • Tyre in other books
  • 9 questions as you read
  • 12 more Hebrew words
  • A short check at the end
  • Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it

יָעַץya'atssay ya-ATS

Brown-Driver-Briggs: "advise, counsel". Strong's: "to advise; reflexively, to deliberate or resolve". The chapter asks, "Who has planned this against Tyre" (23:8), and answers with the same verb: "The LORD of Armies has planned it" (23:9). Isaiah has used it of the LORD of Armies before: "For the LORD of Armies has planned, and who can stop it?" (Isaiah 14:27), and "let them know what the LORD of Armies has purposed concerning Egypt" (Isaiah 19:12). The chapter on Isaiah 14 follows the verb there.

For your group

Isaiah 23 Bible study questions

  1. 1Tyre's merchants were princes and its traders "the honorable of the earth" (23:8), and the LORD of Armies planned "to stain the pride of all glory" (23:9). What kinds of glory are easiest for you to take pride in?
  2. 2The chapter asks, "Who has planned this against Tyre" (23:8), and answers, "The LORD of Armies has planned it" (23:9). How does that answer change the way you read the rest of the chapter?
  3. 3Tyre will be "forgotten seventy years" (23:15), and then "the LORD will visit Tyre" (23:17). What stands out to you about a burden that doesn't end with the ruin?

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Questions

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home