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Isaiah 23:3
ESV And on many waters your revenue was the grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile; you were the merchant of the nations.
NIV On the great waters came the grain of the Shihor; the harvest of the Nile was the revenue of Tyre, and she became the marketplace of the nations.
NASB And were on many waters. The grain of the Nile, the harvest of the River was her revenue; And she was the market of nations.
CSB over deep water. Tyre’s revenue was the grain from Shihor— the harvest of the Nile. She was the merchant among the nations.
NLT sailing over deep waters. They brought you grain from Egypt and harvests from along the Nile. You were the marketplace of the world.
KJV And by great waters the seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river, is her revenue; and she is a mart of nations.
NKJV And on great waters the grain of Shihor, The harvest of the River, is her revenue; And she is a marketplace for the nations.

What does Isaiah 23:3 mean?

The prophecy against the wealthy port city of Tyre is written in the past tense, although the events probably occurred after Isaiah's lifetime. The prophet describes the aftermath of the total destruction of the city and its people by some enemy force. This invasion could have the Assyrians in Isaiah's time or Alexander the Great in 332 BC (Isaiah 23:1).

Isaiah is showing that Tyre is not the only city which will suffer because of its destruction. Tyre's great wealth came from trading with other nations near and far. That exceptional wealth brought economic prosperity to the entire region, including the city of Sidon to the north (Isaiah 23:2).

The next part of this oracle Isaiah talking about the revenue generated by trading goods for the grain from Shihor. The region of Shihor may have been a branch of the Nile River in Egypt. This area of the Nile River was known for its abundant grain crops because of the fertile farmland created by the annual flooding of the river.

That Egyptian grain is just one example of the products that changed hands by way of Tyre's shipping and trading industry. Isaiah calls Tyre the "merchant of the nations." Before its destruction, the city and its people amassed significant wealth from all the goods that flowed through the city's borders.
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