Isaiah 23:9

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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Lord: Isaiah 10:33, Isaiah 14:24, Isaiah 14:27, Isaiah 46:10, Isaiah 46:11, Jeremiah 47:6, Jeremiah 47:7, Jeremiah 51:62, Acts 4:28, Ephesians 1:11, Ephesians 3:11

to stain: Heb. to pollute, Isaiah 2:11, Isaiah 2:17, Isaiah 5:15, Isaiah 5:16, Isaiah 13:11, Job 40:11, Job 40:12, Daniel 4:37, Malachi 4:1, James 4:6

bring: Job 12:21, Psalms 107:40, 1 Corinthians 1:26-29

Reciprocal: Genesis 34:19 - honourable Exodus 8:4 - General Exodus 8:17 - lice in man Job 33:17 - withdraw Isaiah 2:12 - upon Isaiah 16:14 - the glory Isaiah 40:23 - General Jeremiah 13:9 - the pride Lamentations 2:2 - polluted Ezekiel 27:3 - I am Ezekiel 28:7 - I will Ezekiel 28:16 - therefore Daniel 4:24 - the decree Obadiah 1:2 - General Zechariah 9:6 - General Zechariah 12:7 - save Luke 4:6 - and the Romans 9:11 - that the Revelation 18:18 - What

Cross-References

Romans 12:17
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Carefully consider what is right in the eyes of everybody.

Romans 13:8
Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love, for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The Lord of hosts hath purposed it,.... To destroy Tyre; who is wonderful in counsel, capable of forming a wise scheme, and able to put it in execution; being the Lord of armies in heaven and in earth: and his end in it was,

to stain the pride of all glory; Tyre being proud of its riches, the extent of its commerce, and the multitude of its inhabitants, God was resolved, who sets himself against the proud, to abase them; to pollute the glorious things they were proud of; to deal with them as with polluted things; to trample upon them:

[and] to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth: or, "to make light all the heavy ones of the earth" d; all such, who are top heavy with riches and honour, God can, and sometimes does, make as light as feathers, which the wind carries away, and they fall into contempt and disgrace with their fellow creatures; and the Lord's thus dealing with Tyre was not merely on their account, to stain their pride and glory, and disgrace their honourable ones; but for the sake of others also, that the great ones of the earth might see and learn, by this instance of Tyre, how displeasing to the Lord is the sin of pride; what a poor, vain, and perishing thing, worldly honour and glory is; and what poor, weak, feeble creatures, the princes and potentates of the earth are, when the Lord takes them in hand.

d להקל כל נכבדי ארץ.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The Lord of hosts hath purposed it - (see the note at Isaiah 1:9). It is not by human counsel that it has been done. Whoever is the instrument, yet the overthrow of wicked, proud, and vicious cities and nations is to be traced to the God who rules in the empires and kingdoms of the earth (see the notes at Isaiah 10:5-7).

To stain, the pride of all glory - Margin, ‘Pollute.’ The Hebrew word (חלל chalēl) means properly to bore, or pierce through; to open, make common Leviticus 19:29; then to profane, defile, pollute, as, e. g., the sanctuary Leviticus 19:8; Leviticus 21:9, the Sabbath Exodus 31:14, the name of God Leviticus 18:21; Leviticus 19:12. Here it means that the destruction of Tyre would show that God could easily level it all with the dust. The destruction of Tyre would show this in reference to all human glory, because:

(1) it was one of the most ancient cities;

(2) it was one of the most magnificent;

(3) it was one: of the most strong, secure, and inaccessible;

(4) it was the one of most commercial importante, most distinguished in the view of nations; and

(5) its example would be the most striking and impressive.

God often selects the most distinguished and important cities and people to make them examples to others, and to show the ease with which he can bring all down to the earth.

To bring into contempt ... - To bring their plans and purposes into contempt, and to show how unimportant and how foolish are their schemes in the sight of a holy God.