Isaiah 23:3

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹This is an oracle concerning Tyre: Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor. Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus. ²Be silent, O dwellers of the coastland, you merchants of Sidon, whom the seafarers have enriched. ³On the great waters came the grain of Shihor; the harvest of the Nile was the revenue of Tyre; she was the merchant of the nations.⁴Be ashamed, O Sidon, the stronghold of the sea, for the sea has spoken: "I have not been in labor or given birth. I have not raised young men or brought up young women." ⁵When the report reaches Egypt, they will writhe in agony over the news of Tyre. ⁶Cross over to Tarshish; wail, O inhabitants of the coastland! ⁷Is this your jubilant city, whose origin is from antiquity, whose feet have taken her to settle far away? ⁸Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose traders are princes, whose merchants are renowned on the earth? ⁹The LORD of Hosts planned it, to defile all its glorious beauty, to disgrace all the renowned of the earth. ¹⁰Overflow your land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish; there is no longer a harbor.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Sihor: 1 Chronicles 13:5, Jeremiah 2:18

the harvest: Isaiah 32:20, Deuteronomy 11:10

she is: Isaiah 23:8, Ezekiel 27:33, Ezekiel 28:4, Joel 3:5, Revelation 18:11-13

Reciprocal: Isaiah 23:11 - against the merchant city Ezekiel 28:5 - and by

Cross-References

Genesis 10:15
Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites,

Genesis 23:5
The Hittites replied to Abraham,

Genesis 23:7
Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites.

Genesis 25:10
This was the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites. Abraham was buried there with his wife Sarah.

Genesis 27:46
Then Rebekah said to Isaac, "I am weary of my life because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a Hittite wife from among them, what good is my life?"

Genesis 49:30
The cave is in the field of Machpelah near Mamre, in the land of Canaan. This is the field Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site.

1 Samuel 26:6
And David asked Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, "Who will go down with me to Saul in the camp?" "I will go with you," answered Abishai.

2 Samuel 23:39
and Uriah the Hittite. There were thirty-seven in all.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And by great waters the seed of Sihor,.... Sihor is the river Nile in Egypt; it had its name from the black colour of its waters, as in Jeremiah 2:18 hence called by the Greeks Melas, and by the Latins Melo: the "seed" of it intends what was sown and grew upon the banks of it, or was nourished by the overflow of this river throughout the land, and includes corn, flax, paper, c. with which Egypt abounded and when this is said to be "by great waters", the meaning either is, that it grew by great waters, the waters of the Nile, and through the influence of them; or that it came by great waters to Tyre; that is, by the waters of the sea, the Mediterranean Sea:

the harvest of the river [is] her revenue; this clause is the same with the former, and serves to explain it; the river is the river Nile, the harvest is the seed that was sown and grew by it, and which at the proper season, when ripe, was gathered from it, and carried in ships to Tyre, with which that city was supplied and enriched, as if it had been its own produce:

and she is a mart of nations; Tyre was a city to which all nations traded, it was a mart for them all, and where they brought their wares to sell, and always found a market for them, here they had vent. The twenty seventh chapter of Ezekiel Ezekiel 27:1 is a proper commentary on this clause.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And by great waters - That is, by the abundant-waters, or the overflowing of the Nile. Tyre was the mart to which the superabundant productions of Egypt were borne (see Ezekiel 27:0)

The seed of Sihor - There can be no doubt that by ‘Sihor’ here is meant the river Nile in Egypt (see Joshua 13:3; 1 Chronicles 13:5; Jeremiah 2:18). The word שׁחר shichor is derived from שׁחר shachar, “to be black” Job 30:30, and is given to the Nile from its color when it brings down the slime or mud by which Egypt is rendered so fertile. The Greeks gave to the river the name Μέλας Melas (“black”), and the Latins call it “Melo” - (Serv. ad Virg. “Geor.” iv. 291. It was called “Siris” by the Ethiopians; perhaps the same as Sihor. The upper branches of the Nile in Abyssinia all receive their names from the “color” of the water, and are called the White River, the Blue River, etc.

The harvest of the river - The productions caused by the overflowing of the river. Egypt was celebrated for producing grain, and Rome and Greece derived no small part of their supplies from that fertile country. It is also evident that the inhabitants of Palestine were early accustomed to go to Egypt in time of scarcity for supplies of grain (see Genesis 37:25, Genesis 37:28, and the history of Joseph, Gen. 41–43) That the “Tyrians” traded with Egypt is also well known. Herodotus (ii. 112) mentions one entire quarter of the city of Memphis that was inhabited by the Tyrians.

Is her revenue - Her resources are brought from thence.

She is a mart of nations - How true this was, see Ezekiel 27:0. No place was more favorably situated for commerce; and she had engrossed the trade nearly of all the world.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 23:3. The seed of Sihor - "The seed of the Nile"] The Nile is called here Shichor, as it is Jeremiah 2:18, and 1 Chronicles 13:5. It had this name from the blackness of its waters, charged with the mud which it brings down from Ethiopia when it overflows, Et viridem AEgyptum nigra fecundat arena; as it was called by the Greeks Melas, and by the Latins Melo, for the same reason. See Servius on the above line of Virgil, Georg. iv. 291. It was called Siris by the Ethiopians, by some supposed to be the same with Shichor. Egypt by its extraordinary fertility, caused by the overflowing of the Nile supplied the neighbouring nations with corn, by which branch of trade the Tyrians gained great wealth.