Isaiah 23:15 - Printer Friendly

ESV: In that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:

NIV: At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the span of a king’s life. But at the end of these seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:

NASB: Now on that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:

CSB: On that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years—the life span of one king. At the end of seventy years, what the song says about the prostitute will happen to Tyre:

NLT: For seventy years, the length of a king’s life, Tyre will be forgotten. But then the city will come back to life as in the song about the prostitute:

KJV: And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot.

NKJV: Now it shall come to pass in that day that Tyre will be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot:

Isaiah has written the final word on the destruction of the city of Tyre. It will happen and it is coming. He has called for all who depend on her and honor her to mourn and wail (Isaiah 23:14). He has made it clear that the Lord who will destroy her and Sidon as an act of judgment. This reckoning will be due to Tyre's pride and the false honor heaped upon her by others (Isaiah 23:9).

Tyre will be fully and utterly incapacitated. Alexander the Great succeeded in wiping Tyre out in 332 BC. The city was also conquered by the Assyrians, and the Babylonians well before that. It is unknown, exactly, to which destruction in Tyre's future Isaiah is pointing. What is clear is that it will put Tyre out of commission as a functioning and independent seaport for seventy years.

The city will be "forgotten." The prophet means that shippers from other nations won't even consider taking their goods to and through Tyre during that time. Since Isaiah describes those seventy years "as the days of one king," some commentators speculate that he may not have had an exact number of years in mind. Commentators suggest that Isaiah uses seventy 70 years as a way of saying a long time, using the time a long-lived king might reign over a nation.

That season will end, though. Tyre will again begin to thrive as a center of trade, shipping, and prosperity. Yet Isaiah does not describe this return to prominence as a glorious victory. Rather, it is like a prostitute coming out of retirement (Isaiah 23:16). This is not a return to form to Tyre's glory days.

Isaiah 23:13–18 completes predictions about the future of Tyre and Sidon. Previous verses indicated the city would be destroyed. Here, Isaiah offers other examples of God's judgment. He then indicates that Tyre's ruin will last seventy years. After comes a form of restoration. However, this will not be the proud status of the past. Instead, the city will be like a prostitute returning to that role. In some way, the profit of Tyre's return will help God's people.

Isaiah's final oracle against the nations describes the aftermath of God's judgment on the port city of Tyre. This city was a great center of trade and shipping in the world. The sailors returning will mourn when they get the news the city and its port is wiped out. The mourning will extend to the Phoenician people, the sea itself, the Egyptian grain industry, and the people of Tarshish. The prophet is clear that the Lord has done this in judgment against Tyre's pride. After 70 years of being forgotten, Tyre will thrive again as a prostitute to the nations. The Lord's people will receive her wages.

Prior chapters included prophecies about the nations surrounding Israel. Most of these have been arranged to warn Israel not to assume those neighbors would make effective allies against God's judgment. Chapter 23 is the final of these "oracles." Tyre was a great center of shipping and trade on the Mediterranean coast north of Israel. When it is destroyed, it will be mourned all around the great sea. After this, the predictions expand to a worldwide focus, with implications for the end times.

Isaiah is among the most important prophetic books in the entire Bible. The first segment details God's impending judgment against ancient peoples for sin and idolatry (Isaiah 1—35). The second part of Isaiah briefly explains a failed assault on Jerusalem during the rule of Hezekiah (Isaiah 36—39). The final chapters predict Israel's rescue from Babylonian captivity (Isaiah 40—48), the promised Messiah (Isaiah 49—57), and the final glory of Jerusalem and God's people (Isaiah 58—66).