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the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Read the Bible

Legacy Standard Bible

Isaiah 23:2

Be silent, you inhabitants of the coastland,You merchants of Sidon;Your messengers crossed the sea

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Commerce;   Merchant;   Sidon;   Tarshish;   Thompson Chain Reference - Quietness;   Quietness-Tumult;   Stillness;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Sidonians, the;   Tyre;  

Dictionaries:

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

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Island;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Canaanites, the;   Tyre;   Zidon (Sidon);  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Mourn, inhabitants of the coastland,you merchants of Sidon;your agents have crossed the sea
Hebrew Names Version
Be still, you inhabitants of the coast, you whom the merchants of Tzidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished.
King James Version
Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle; thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished.
English Standard Version
Be still, O inhabitants of the coast; the merchants of Sidon, who cross the sea, have filled you.
New American Standard Bible
Be silent, you inhabitants of the coastland, You merchants of Sidon; Your messengers crossed the sea
New Century Version
Be silent, you who live on the island of Tyre; you merchants of Sidon, be silent. Sailors have made you rich.
Amplified Bible
Be silent, you inhabitants of the coastland, You merchants of Sidon; Your messengers crossed the sea
World English Bible
Be still, you inhabitants of the coast, you whom the merchants of Sidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Be still, yee that dwell in the yles: the marchantes of Zidon, and such as passe ouer the sea, haue replenished thee.
Berean Standard Bible
Be silent, O dwellers of the coastland, you merchants of Sidon, whom the seafarers have enriched.
Contemporary English Version
Mourn in silence, you shop owners of Sidon, you people on the coast. Your sailors crossed oceans, making your city rich.
Complete Jewish Bible
Silence, you who live on the coast, you who have been enriched by the merchants of Tzidon crossing the sea.
Darby Translation
Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle! The merchants of Sidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished thee.
Easy-to-Read Version
You people living near the sea, mourn in silence. The merchants of Sidon sent traders across the sea and filled the city with riches.
George Lamsa Translation
Be still, O inhabitants of the islands, the merchants of Zidon that passed over the sea.
Good News Translation
Wail, you merchants of Sidon! You sent agents
Lexham English Bible
Be still, inhabitants of the coast, merchant of Sidon, who travels over the sea, they filled you.
Literal Translation
Be still, ones living in the coast, trader of Sidon crossing the sea; they have filled you.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The Indwellers of the Ilondes, the marchauntes of Sidon, and they that occupied the see (of whom thou wast ful somtyme) are at a poynte.
American Standard Version
Be still, ye inhabitants of the coast, thou whom the merchants of Sidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished.
Bible in Basic English
Send out a cry of grief, you men of the sea-land, traders of Zidon, who go over the sea, whose representatives are on great waters;
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Be still, ye inhabitants of the coast-land; thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished.
King James Version (1611)
Be still, yee inhabitants of the yle, thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that passe ouer the sea, haue replenished.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Be styll ye that dwell in the Isle, the marchauntes of Zidon, & such as passe ouer the sea haue made thee plenteous.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
To whom are the dwellers in the island become like, the merchants of Phoenice, passing over the sea
English Revised Version
Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle; thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Be ye stille, that dwellen in the ile, the marchaundie of Sidon; men passynge the see filliden thee in many watris;
Update Bible Version
Be still, you inhabitants of the coast, O merchants of Sidon, your messengers passed over the sea.
Webster's Bible Translation
Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle; thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished.
New English Translation
Lament, you residents of the coast, you merchants of Sidon who travel over the sea, whose agents sail over
New King James Version
Be still, you inhabitants of the coastland,You merchants of Sidon,Whom those who cross the sea have filled. [fn]
New Living Translation
Mourn in silence, you people of the coast and you merchants of Sidon. Your traders crossed the sea,
New Life Bible
Be quiet, you people who live on the islands, you traders of Sidon. You sent men to cross the sea
New Revised Standard
Be still, O inhabitants of the coast, O merchants of Sidon, your messengers crossed over the sea
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Be dumb, ye inhabitants of the Coast, - Whom the merchants of Zidon, passing over the sea, once replenished;
Douay-Rheims Bible
Be silent, you that dwell in the island: the merchants of Sidon passing over the sea, have filled thee.
Revised Standard Version
Be still, O inhabitants of the coast, O merchants of Sidon; your messengers passed over the sea
Young's Literal Translation
Be silent, ye inhabitants of the isle, Trader of Zidon, passing the sea, they filled thee.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Be silent, you inhabitants of the coastland, You merchants of Sidon; Your messengers crossed the sea

Contextual Overview

1The oracle concerning Tyre.Wail, O ships of Tarshish,For Tyre is destroyed, without house or harbor;It is revealed to them from the land of Cyprus. 2Be silent, you inhabitants of the coastland,You merchants of Sidon;Your messengers crossed the sea 3And were on many waters.The grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile was her revenue;And she was the nations' gain. 4Be ashamed, O Sidon;For the sea speaks, the strong defense of the sea, saying,"I have neither travailed nor given birth;I have neither brought up choice men nor reared virgins." 5When the report reaches Egypt,They will be in travail at the report of Tyre. 6Pass over to Tarshish;Wail, O inhabitants of the coastland. 7Is this your exultant city,Whose origin is from days of old,Whose feet used to lead her to sojourn in distant places? 8Who has counseled this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,Whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth? 9Yahweh of hosts has counseled it, to defile the pride of all beauty,To make contemptuous all the honored of the earth. 10Overflow your land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish;There is no more restraint.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

still: Heb. silent, Isaiah 41:1, Isaiah 47:5, Psalms 46:10, Habakkuk 2:20

the isle: Ezekiel 27:3, Ezekiel 27:4, Ezekiel 28:2

the merchants: Ezekiel 27:8-36

Reciprocal: Joshua 19:28 - great Isaiah 23:6 - howl Isaiah 23:12 - daughter Ezekiel 28:21 - Zidon Acts 27:3 - Sidon

Cross-References

Genesis 13:18
Then Abram moved his tent and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to Yahweh.
Genesis 23:14
Then Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him,
Genesis 23:15
"My lord, hear me; a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between me and you? So bury your dead."
Genesis 23:16
So Abraham heard Ephron; and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver which he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, commercial standard.
Genesis 23:18
to Abraham as purchased in the sight of the sons of Heth, before all who came in at the gate of his city.
Genesis 23:19
After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field at Machpelah facing Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.
Genesis 27:41
So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said in his heart, "The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob."
Genesis 50:10
And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and they lamented there with a very great and immense lamentation; and he observed seven days of mourning for his father.
Numbers 13:22
And they had gone up into the Negev and came to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
Numbers 20:29
So all the congregation saw that Aaron breathed his last, and all the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle,.... Either the isles of Chittim, or other islands that traded with Tyre, the singular being put for the plural, called upon to grieve and mourn, because the city of their merchandise was destroyed, as Kimchi; or of Tyre itself, which being situated at some distance from the shore, was an island itself, until it was joined to the continent by Alexander q; and even old Tyre might be so called, it being usual in Scripture to call places by the seashore isles; and besides, old Tyre included in it new Tyre, the island, as Pliny r suggests; who are instructed to be silent as mourners, and to cease from the hurries of business, which they would be obliged to, and not boast of their power and wealth, as they had formerly done, or attempt to defend themselves, which would be in vain:

thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished; Zidon was a very ancient city of Phoenicia, more ancient than Tyre; for Tyre was a colony of the Zidonians, and built by them, and so might be said to be replenished by them with men from the first, as it also was with mariners, Ezekiel 27:8 and likewise with merchants and wares, they being a trading and seafaring people; wherefore they are spoken of as merchants, and as passing over the sea: or this may be understood of the isles replenished with goods by the merchants of Tyre and Zidon, but now no more, and therefore called to mourning.

q Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 19. r Ibid.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Be still - This is the description of a city which is destroyed, where the din of commerce, and the sound of revelry is no longer heard. It is an address of the prophet to Tyre, indicating that it would be soon still, and destroyed.

Ye inhabitants of the isle - (of Tyre). The word ‘isle’ (אי 'iy) is sometimes used to denote a “coast or maritime region” (see the note at Isaiah 20:6), but there seems no reason to doubt that here it means the island on which New Tyre was erected. This may have been occupied even before Old Tyre was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, though the main city was on the crest.

Thou whom the merchants of Zidon - Tyre was a colony from Sidon; and the merchants of Sidon would trade to Tyre as well as to Sidon.

Have replenished - Hebrew, ‘have filled,’ that is, with merchandise, and with wealth. Thus, in Ezekiel 27:8, Tyre is represented as having derived its seamen from Sidon: ‘Theinhabitants of Sidon and of Arvad were thy mariners.’ And in Ezekiel 27:9-23, Tyre is represented as having been filled with shipbuilders, merchants, mariners, soldiers, etc., from Gebal, Persia, Lud, Phut, Tarshish, Jayvan, Tubal, Mesheck, Dedan, Syria, Damascus, Arabia, etc.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 23:2. Be still - "Be silent"] Silence is a mark of grief and consternation. See Isaiah 47:5. Jeremiah has finely expressed this image: -

"The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the

ground, they are silent:

They have cast up dust on their heads, they

have girded themselves with sackcloth.

The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their

heads to the ground."

Lamentations 2:10.


 
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