Isaiah 23:5

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
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at the: Isaiah 19:16, Exodus 15:14-16, Joshua 2:9-11

so shall: Ezekiel 26:15-21, Ezekiel 27:29-36, Ezekiel 28:19, Revelation 18:17-19

Reciprocal: Numbers 22:3 - General Ezekiel 26:18 - at thy Ezekiel 30:9 - great

Gill's Notes on the Bible

As at the report concerning Egypt,.... Its future destruction prophesied of, Isaiah 19:1 or what had in times past befallen it when the ten plagues were inflicted on it, and Pharaoh and his host were drowned in the Red Sea; the report of which filled the neighbouring nations with fear and trembling, and put them into a panic; so the Targum,

"as they heard the plague with which the Egyptians were smitten:''

[so] shall they be sorely pained at the report of Tyre; of the destruction of that; this should have the like effect upon the nations round about them, especially such as traded with them, as the judgments on Egypt had upon their neighbours; for, as for what was to come, the destruction of Tyre was before the destruction of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar: though some read the words, and they will bear to be read thus, "when the report" was made, or came "to the Egyptians, they will be in pain at", or "according to the report of Tyre" t;

"when it was heard in Egypt, pain shall take them for Tyre;''

as soon as the Egyptians heard of the taking and ruin of Tyre, they were in pain, as a woman in travail, partly fearing their own turn would be next, Tyre lying in the way of the Chaldeans unto them; and partly because of the loss of trade they sustained through the destruction of that city. In like pain will be the kings or merchants of the earth, at the destruction of Rome, Revelation 18:9 and, according to an exposition mentioned by Jarchi, Tyre here is Edom; that is, Rome, for that with the Jews is commonly meant by Edom.

t So the Septuagint, Vatbalus, and others.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

As at the report concerning Egypt - According to our translation, this verse would seem to mean that the Sidonians and other nations had been pained or grieved at the report of the calamities that had come upon Egypt, and that they would be similarly affected at the report concerning Tyre. In accordance with this, some (as Jarchi) have understood it of the plagues of Egypt, and suppose that the prophet means to say, that as the nations were astonished at that, so they would be at the report of the calamities that would come upon Tyre. Others refer it to the calamities that. would come upon Egypt referred to in Isaiah 19:0, and suppose that the prophet means to say, that as the nations would be amazed at the report of these calamities, so they would be at the report of the overthrow of Tyre. So Vitringa. But the sense of the Hebrew may be expressed thus: ‘As the report, or tidings of the destruction of Tyre shall reach Egypt, they shall be pained at the tidings respecting Tyre.’ So Lowth, Noyes, Rosenmuller, Grotius, Calvin. They would be grieved, either

(1) because the destruction of Tyre would injure the commerce of Egypt; or

(2) because the Egyptians might fear that the army of Nebuchadnezzar would come upon them, and that they would share the fate of Tyre.

Sorely pained - The word used here (יחילוּ yâchı̂ylû) is commonly applied to the severe pain of parturition.