Lectionary Calendar
Friday, July 18th, 2025
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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Read the Bible

Good News Translation

Isaiah 23:6

Howl with grief, you people of Phoenicia! Try to escape to Spain!

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Torrey's Topical Textbook - Tyre;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Isle, Island;   Tarshish;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Preaching;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Tarshish;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Isaiah, Book of;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Tarshish, Tharshish;   Zidon, Sidon ;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Nile;   Tarshish;   Tyre;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Isle;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Coast;   Island;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Tyre;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Cross over to Tarshish;wail, inhabitants of the coastland!
Hebrew Names Version
Pass over to Tarshish; wail, you inhabitants of the coast.
King James Version
Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the isle.
English Standard Version
Cross over to Tarshish; wail, O inhabitants of the coast!
New American Standard Bible
Pass over to Tarshish; Wail, you inhabitants of the coastland.
New Century Version
You ships should return to Tarshish. You people living near the sea should be sad.
Amplified Bible
Cross over to Tarshish [to seek safety as exiles]; Wail, O inhabitants of the coastland [of Tyre].
World English Bible
Pass over to Tarshish; wail, you inhabitants of the coast.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Goe you ouer to Tarshish: howle, yee that dwell in the yles.
Legacy Standard Bible
Pass over to Tarshish;Wail, O inhabitants of the coastland.
Berean Standard Bible
Cross over to Tarshish; wail, O inhabitants of the coastland!
Contemporary English Version
All of you along the coast had better cry and sail far across the ocean.
Complete Jewish Bible
Cross over to Tarshish! Howl, you who live on the coast!
Darby Translation
Pass over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the coast!
Easy-to-Read Version
You ships, try to escape to Tarshish! Cry out, you people living near the sea!
George Lamsa Translation
Pass over to Tarshish; howl, O you inhabitants of the islands.
Lexham English Bible
Cross over to Tarshish! Wail, inhabitants of the coast!
Literal Translation
Pass over Tarshish; howl, people of the coast!
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Go ouer the see, Mourne ye yt dwel in the Iles.
American Standard Version
Pass ye over to Tarshish; wail, ye inhabitants of the coast.
Bible in Basic English
Go over to Tarshish; give cries of sorrow, O men of the sea-land.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the coast-land.
King James Version (1611)
Passe ye ouer to Tarshish, howle ye inhabitants of the yle.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Get you to Tharsis, mourne you that dwell in the Isle.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Depart ye to Carthage; howl, ye that dwell in this island.
English Revised Version
Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the isle.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Passe ye the sees; yelle ye, that dwellen in the ile.
Update Bible Version
Pass over to Tarshish; wail, you inhabitants of the coast.
Webster's Bible Translation
Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the isle.
New English Translation
Travel to Tarshish! Wail, you residents of the coast!
New King James Version
Cross over to Tarshish; Wail, you inhabitants of the coastland!
New Living Translation
Send word now to Tarshish! Wail, you people who live in distant lands!
New Life Bible
Pass over to Tarshish. Cry out in sorrow, O people of the islands.
New Revised Standard
Cross over to Tarshish— wail, O inhabitants of the coast!
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Pass ye over to Tarshish, - Howl ye inhabitants of the Coast:
Douay-Rheims Bible
Pass over the seas, howl, ye inhabitants of the island.
Revised Standard Version
Pass over to Tarshish, wail, O inhabitants of the coast!
Young's Literal Translation
Pass over to Tarshish, howl, ye inhabitants of the isle,
THE MESSAGE
Visit Tarshish, you who live on the seacoast. Take a good, long look and wail—yes, cry buckets of tears! Is this the city you remember as energetic and alive, bustling with activity, this historic old city, Expanding throughout the globe, buying and selling all over the world? And who is behind the collapse of Tyre, the Tyre that controlled the world markets? Tyre's merchants were the business tycoons. Tyre's traders called all the shots. God -of-the-Angel-Armies ordered the crash to show the sordid backside of pride and puncture the inflated reputations. Sail for home, O ships of Tarshish. There are no docks left in this harbor. God reached out to the sea and sea traders, threw the sea kingdoms into turmoil. God ordered the destruction of the seacoast cities, the centers of commerce. God said, "There's nothing left here to be proud of, bankrupt and bereft Sidon. Do you want to make a new start in Cyprus? Don't count on it. Nothing there will work out for you either."
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Pass over to Tarshish; Wail, O inhabitants of the coastland.

Contextual Overview

1 This is a message about Tyre. Howl with grief, you sailors out on the ocean! Your home port of Tyre has been destroyed; its houses and its harbor are in ruins. As your ships return from Cyprus, you learn the news. 2 Wail, you merchants of Sidon! You sent agents 3 across the sea to buy and sell the grain that grew in Egypt and to do business with all the nations. 4 City of Sidon, you are disgraced! The sea and the great ocean depths disown you and say, "I never had any children. I never raised sons or daughters." 5 Even the Egyptians will be shocked and dismayed when they learn that Tyre has been destroyed. 6 Howl with grief, you people of Phoenicia! Try to escape to Spain! 7 Can this be the joyful city of Tyre, founded so long ago? Is this the city that sent settlers across the sea to establish colonies? 8 Who was it that planned to bring all this on Tyre, that imperial city, whose merchant princes were the most honored men on earth? 9 The Lord Almighty planned it. He planned it in order to put an end to their pride in what they had done and to humiliate their honored ones. 10 Go and farm the land, you people in the colonies in Spain! There is no one to protect you any more.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Pass: Isaiah 23:10, Isaiah 23:12, Isaiah 21:15

howl: Isaiah 23:1, Isaiah 23:2, Isaiah 16:7

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 10:22 - Tharshish Isaiah 23:14 - General Jeremiah 49:3 - Howl Ezekiel 27:12 - General Ezekiel 27:35 - the inhabitants Ezekiel 30:2 - Howl Jonah 1:3 - Tarshish

Cross-References

Genesis 13:2
Abram was a very rich man, with sheep, goats, and cattle, as well as silver and gold.
Genesis 14:14
When Abram heard that his nephew had been captured, he called together all the fighting men in his camp, 318 in all, and pursued the four kings all the way to Dan.
Genesis 18:12
So Sarah laughed to herself and said, "Now that I am old and worn out, can I still enjoy sex? And besides, my husband is old too."
Genesis 21:22
At that time Abimelech went with Phicol, the commander of his army, and said to Abraham, "God is with you in everything you do.
Genesis 23:1
Sarah lived to be 127 years old.
Genesis 23:2
She died in Hebron in the land of Canaan, and Abraham mourned her death.
Genesis 23:4
"I am a foreigner living here among you; sell me some land, so that I can bury my wife."
Genesis 23:5
They answered,
Genesis 24:18
She said, "Drink, sir," and quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and held it while he drank.
Genesis 24:35
"The Lord has greatly blessed my master and made him a rich man. He has given him flocks of sheep and goats, cattle, silver, gold, male and female slaves, camels, and donkeys.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Pass ye over to Tarshish,.... Either to Tartessus in Spain, or to Tarsus in Cilicia, which lay over against them, and to which they might transport themselves, families, and substance, with greater ease; or "to a province of the sea", as the Targum, any other seaport; the Septuagint says to Carthage, which was a colony of the Tyrians; and hither the Assyrian u historians say they did transport themselves; though Kimchi thinks this is spoken, not to the Tyrians, but to the merchants that traded with them, to go elsewhere with their merchandise, since their goods could no more be disposed of in that city as usual.

Howl, ye inhabitants of the isle: of Tyre, as in Isaiah 23:2 or of every isle, as Aben Ezra, which traded here, because now their commerce was at an end; so Kimchi.

u Apud Hieron. in loc.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Pass ye over - That is, ye inhabitants of tyre. This is an address to Tyre, in view of her approaching destruction; and is designed to signify that when the city was destroyed, its inhabitants would flee to its colonies, and seek refuge and safety there. As Tarshish was one of its principal colonies, and as the ships employed by Tyre would naturally sail to Tarshish, the inhabitants are represented as fleeing there on the attack of Nebucbadnezzar. That the inhabitants of Tyre did fire in this manner, is expressly asserted by Jerome upon the authority of Assyrian histories which are now lost. ‘We have read,’ says he, ‘in the histories of the Assyrians, that when the Tyrians were besieged, after they saw no hope of escaping, they went on board their ships, and fled to Cartilage, or to some islands of the Ionian and AEgean Sea’ (Jerome in loc.) And again (on Ezekiel 29:0) he says, ‘When the Tyrians saw that the works for carrying on the siege were perfected, and the foundations of the walls were shaken by the battering rams, whatever precious things in gold, silver, clothes, and various kinds of furniture the nobility had, they put them on board their ships, and carried to the islands. So that the city being taken, Nebuchadnezzar found nothing worthy of his labor.’ Diodorus (xvii. 41) relates the same thing of the Tyrians during the siege of Alexander the Great, where he says that they took their wives and children to Carthage.

Howl - Deep grief among the Orientals was usually expressed by a loud, long, and most dismal howl or shriek (see the note at Isaiah 15:2).

Ye inhabitants of the isle - Of Tyre. The word ‘isle,’ however, may be taken as in Isaiah 20:6 (see the note on that place), in, the sense of coast, or maritime country in general, and possibly may be intended to denote Old Tyre, or the coast of Phenicia in general, though most naturally it applies to the city built on the island.


 
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