Isaiah 23-24

New King James Version

Wail, you ships of Tarshish!
For it is laid waste,
So that there is no house, no harbor;
From the land of ^[b]Cyprus it is revealed to them.

² Be still, you inhabitants of the coastland,
You merchants of Sidon,
^[c]Whom those who cross the sea have filled.
³ And on great waters the grain of Shihor,
The harvest of ^[d]the River, is her revenue;
And ^(B)she is a marketplace for the nations.

⁴ Be ashamed, O Sidon;
For the sea has spoken,
The strength of the sea, saying,
“I do not labor, nor bring forth children;
Neither do I rear young men,
Nor bring up virgins.”
^5 (C)When the report reaches Egypt,
They also will be in agony at the report of Tyre.

⁶ Cross over to Tarshish;
Wail, you inhabitants of the coastland!
⁷ Is this your ^(D)joyous city,
Whose antiquity is from ancient days,
Whose feet carried her far off to dwell?
⁸ Who has taken this counsel against Tyre, ^(E)the crowning city,
Whose merchants are princes,
Whose traders are the honorable of the earth?
⁹ The Lord of hosts has ^(F)purposed it,
To ^[e]bring to dishonor the ^(G)pride of all glory,
To bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth.

¹⁰ Overflow through your land like ^[f]the River,
O daughter of Tarshish;
There is no more ^[g]strength.
¹¹ He stretched out His hand over the sea,
He shook the kingdoms;
The Lord has given a commandment ^(H)against Canaan
To destroy its strongholds.
¹² And He said, “You will rejoice no more,
O you oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon.
Arise, ^(I)cross over to Cyprus;
There also you will have no rest.”

¹³ Behold, the land of the ^(J)Chaldeans,
This people which was not;
Assyria founded it for ^(K)wild beasts of the desert.
They set up its towers,
They raised up its palaces,
And brought it to ruin.

^14 (L)Wail, you ships of Tarshish!
For your strength is laid waste.

¹⁶ “Take a harp, go about the city,
You forgotten harlot;
Make sweet melody, sing many songs,
That you may be remembered.”

⁴ The earth mourns and fades away,
The world languishes and fades away;
The ^(Q)haughty^[i] people of the earth languish.
^5 (R)The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants,
Because they have ^(S)transgressed the laws,
Changed the ordinance,
Broken the ^(T)everlasting covenant.
⁶ Therefore ^(U)the curse has devoured the earth,
And those who dwell in it are ^[j]desolate.
Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are ^(V)burned,
And few men are left.

^7 (W)The new wine fails, the vine languishes,
All the merry-hearted sigh.
⁸ The mirth ^(X)of the tambourine ceases,
The noise of the jubilant ends,
The joy of the harp ceases.
⁹ They shall not drink wine with a song;
Strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
¹⁰ The city of confusion is broken down;
Every house is shut up, so that none may go in.
¹¹ There is a cry for wine in the streets,
All joy is darkened,
The mirth of the land is gone.
¹² In the city desolation is left,
And the gate is stricken with destruction.
¹³ When it shall be thus in the midst of the land among the people,
^(Y)It shall be like the shaking of an olive tree,
Like the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is done.

¹⁴ They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing;
For the majesty of the Lord
They shall cry aloud from the sea.
¹⁵ Therefore ^(Z)glorify the Lord in the dawning light,
^(AA)The name of the Lord God of Israel in the coastlands of the sea.
¹⁶ From the ends of the earth we have heard songs:
“Glory to the righteous!”
But I said, ^[k]“I am ruined, ruined!
Woe to me!
^(AB)The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously,
Indeed, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.”

^17 (AC)Fear and the pit and the snare
Are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth.
¹⁸ And it shall be
That he who flees from the noise of the fear
Shall fall into the pit,
And he who comes up from the midst of the pit
Shall be ^[l]caught in the snare;
For ^(AD)the windows from on high are open,
And ^(AE)the foundations of the earth are shaken.

^19 (AF)The earth is violently broken,
The earth is split open,
The earth is shaken exceedingly.
²⁰ The earth shall ^(AG)reel^[m] to and fro like a drunkard,
And shall totter like a hut;
Its transgression shall be heavy upon it,
And it will fall, and not rise again.

²¹ It shall come to pass in that day
That the Lord will punish on high the host of exalted ones,
And on the earth ^(AH)the kings of the earth.
²² They will be gathered together,
As prisoners are gathered in the ^[n]pit,
And will be shut up in the prison;
After many days they will be punished.
²³ Then the ^(AI)moon will be disgraced
And the sun ashamed;
For the Lord of hosts will ^(AJ)reign
On ^(AK)Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
And before His elders, gloriously.