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Isaiah 23

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1 τὸ ὅραμα Τύρου ὀλολύζετε πλοῖα Καρχηδόνος ὅτι ἀπώλετο καὶ οὐκέτι ἔρχονται ἐκ γῆς Κιτιαίων ἦκται αἰχμάλωτος 2 τίνι ὅμοιοι γεγόνασιν οἱ ἐνοικοῦντες ἐν τῇ νήσῳ μεταβόλοι Φοινίκης διαπερῶντες τὴν θάλασσαν 3 ἐν ὕδατι πολλῷ σπέρμα μεταβόλων ὡς ἀμητοῦ εἰσφερομένου οἱ μεταβόλοι τῶν ἐθνῶν 4 αἰσχύνθητι Σιδών εἶπεν ἡ θάλασσα ἡ δὲ ἰσχὺς τῆς θαλάσσης εἶπεν οὐκ ὤδινον οὐδὲ ἔτεκον οὐδὲ ἐξέθρεψα νεανίσκους οὐδὲ ὕψωσα παρθένους 5 ὅταν δὲ ἀκουστὸν γένηται Αἰγύπτῳ λήμψεται αὐτοὺς ὀδύνη περὶ Τύρου 6 ἀπέλθατε εἰς Καρχηδόνα ὀλολύξατε οἱ ἐνοικοῦντες ἐν τῇ νήσῳ ταύτῃ 7 οὐχ αὕτη ἦν ὑμῶν ἡ ὕβρις ἡ ἀ{P'} ἀρχῆς πρὶν ἢ παραδοθῆναι αὐτήν 8 τίς ταῦτα ἐβούλευσεν ἐπὶ Τύρον μὴ ἥσσων ἐστὶν ἢ οὐκ ἰσχύει οἱ ἔμποροι αὐτῆς ἔνδοξοι ἄρχοντες τῆς γῆς 9 κύριος σαβαωθ ἐβουλεύσατο παραλῦσαι πᾶσαν τὴν ὕβριν τῶν ἐνδόξων καὶ ἀτιμάσαι πᾶν ἔνδοξον ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς

1 What burden for Tyre? Mourn aloud, ocean-going ships,[1] that reach Cyprus to learn that the home you left is in ruins! 2 Stand they aghast, dwellers in the coast-land that once was thronged with Sidonian merchants, 3 that gathered its revenue from far over-seas; grain of Egypt’s sowing, of the Nile’s ripening, bartered they among the nations. 4 Poor Sidon, by false hopes betrayed! A cry comes up from the sea, from her that was guardian of the sea, Not for me a mother’s joys, a mother’s pangs; never a son reared, never a maid brought to womanhood. 5 Here is news for Egypt, news from Tyre that shall grip her with despair! 6 Go out on your ocean voyage, dwellers on the coast-land, mourning aloud; 7 your city come to this, the same city that had so long boasted of her ancientry! For her townsfolk there is a journey to make on foot, a distant journey.[2] 8 Who was it plotted the downfall of Tyre, a city once so rich in crowns, whose merchants were princes, whose traffickers were among the great men of the earth? 9 He, the Lord of hosts, designed it; who else drags in the mire the boaster’s pride, brings all the great men of the earth into derision?

1 Onus Tyri.

Ululate, naves maris,
quia vastata est domus
unde venire consueverant:
de terra Cethim
revelatum est eis. 2
Tacete, qui habitatis in insula;
negotiatores Sidonis, transfretantes mare, repleverunt te. 3
In aquis multis semen Nili;
messis fluminis fruges ejus:
et facta est negotiatio gentium. 4
Erubesce, Sidon; ait enim mare,
fortitudo maris, dicens:
Non parturivi, et non peperi,
et non enutrivi juvenes,
nec ad incrementum perduxi virgines. 5
Cum auditum fuerit in Ægypto,
dolebunt cum audierint de Tiro. 6
Transite maria, ululate,
qui habitatis in insula! 7
Numquid non vestra hæc est, quæ gloriabatur
a diebus pristinis in antiquitate sua?
Ducent eam pedes sui
longe ad peregrinandum. 8
Quis cogitavit hoc
super Tyrum quondam coronatam,
cujus negotiatores principes,
institores ejus inclyti terræ? 9
Dominus exercituum cogitavit hoc,
ut detraheret superbiam omnis gloriæ,
et ad ignominiam deduceret universos inclytos terræ.

10 ἐργάζου τὴν γῆν σου καὶ γὰρ πλοῖα οὐκέτι ἔρχεται ἐκ Καρχηδόνος 11 ἡ δὲ χείρ σου οὐκέτι ἰσχύει κατὰ θάλασσαν ἡ παροξύνουσα βασιλεῖς κύριος σαβαωθ ἐνετείλατο περὶ Χανααν ἀπολέσαι αὐτῆς τὴν ἰσχύν 12 καὶ ἐροῦσιν οὐκέτι μὴ προσθῆτε τοῦ ὑβρίζειν καὶ ἀδικεῖν τὴν θυγατέρα Σιδῶνος καὶ ἐὰν ἀπέλθῃς εἰς Κιτιεῖς οὐδὲ ἐκεῖ σοι ἀνάπαυσις ἔσται 13 καὶ εἰς γῆν Χαλδαίων καὶ αὕτη ἠρήμωται ἀπὸ τῶν Ἀσσυρίων οὐδὲ ἐκεῖ σοι ἀνάπαυσις ἔσται ὅτι ὁ τοῖχος αὐτῆς πέπτωκεν 14 ὀλολύζετε πλοῖα Καρχηδόνος ὅτι ἀπώλετο τὸ ὀχύρωμα ὑμῶν

10 Daughter of ocean,[3] henceforward thy land must be watered with streams; the girdle of strength thou hadst is thine no more. 11 The Lord’s hand, now, is stretched out over the sea itself, throwing all the kingdoms into dismay; his writ has gone out against Chanaan, that all its strongholds should be brought to nothing. 12 Sidon, poor queen (he says), boast no more of thy virginity; thy name is tarnished now. Cross the sea, and betake thyself to Cyprus if thou wilt; even there thou shalt find no rest. 13 Her resting-place is the land of the Chaldeans, where Assur has founded a nation strong as no nation ever was; nation that has carried off her warriors into captivity, undermined her palaces, made her into a heap of ruins.[4] 14 Mourn aloud, ocean-going ships; your stronghold is laid waste.

10
Transi terram tuam quasi flumen, filia maris!
non est cingulum ultra tibi. 11
Manum suam extendit super mare;
conturbavit regna.
Dominus mandavit adversus Chanaan,
ut contereret fortes ejus; 12
et dixit: Non adjicies ultra ut glorieris,
calumniam sustinens virgo filia Sidonis:
in Cethim consurgens transfreta:
ibi quoque non erit requies tibi. 13
Ecce terra Chaldæorum, talis populus non fuit:
Assur fundavit eam;
in captivitatem traduxerunt robustos ejus,
suffoderunt domos ejus,
posuerunt eam in ruinam. 14
Ululate, naves maris,
quia devastata est fortitudo vestra.

15 καὶ ἔσται ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ καταλειφθήσεται Τύρος ἔτη ἑβδομήκοντα ὡς χρόνος βασιλέως ὡς χρόνος ἀνθρώπου καὶ ἔσται μετὰ ἑβδομήκοντα ἔτη ἔσται Τύρος ὡς ᾆσμα πόρνης 16 λαβὲ κιθάραν ῥέμβευσον πόλεις πόρνη ἐπιλελησμένη καλῶς κιθάρισον πολλὰ ᾆσον ἵνα σου μνεία γένηται 17 καὶ ἔσται μετὰ ἑβδομήκοντα ἔτη ἐπισκοπὴν ποιήσει ὁ θεὸς Τύρου καὶ πάλιν ἀποκατασταθήσεται εἰς τὸ ἀρχαῖον καὶ ἔσται ἐμπόριον πάσαις ταῖς βασιλείαις τῆς οἰκουμένης 18 καὶ ἔσται αὐτῆς ἡ ἐμπορία καὶ ὁ μισθὸς ἅγιον τῷ κυρίῳ οὐκ αὐτοῖς συναχθήσεται ἀλλὰ τοῖς κατοικοῦσιν ἔναντι κυρίου πᾶσα ἡ ἐμπορία αὐτῆς φαγεῖν καὶ πιεῖν καὶ ἐμπλησθῆναι εἰς συμβολὴν μνημόσυνον ἔναντι κυρίου

15 After this thou wilt be forgotten, thou city of Tyre, for seventy years, long as the life-time of one of thy kings. At the end of those seventy years, Tyre will know the meaning of the harlot’s song, 16 Take thy harp and go round the streets, poor harlot forgotten; now for thy best notes, now for thy whole store of music, to bring thee back into remembrance! 17 At the end of those seventy years, the Lord will relent towards Tyre, and send her back to her trafficking; all the world over, with all the world’s kingdoms, she shall play the harlot once more. 18 But now the revenues of her trafficking shall be devoted to the Lord’s use, not hoarded up and laid by; revenue she shall earn, but for Sion’s folk, the Lord’s servants, to give them food in abundance, and brave clothes to wear.

15 Et erit in die illa: in oblivione eris, o Tyre! septuaginta annis, sicut dies regis unius; post septuaginta autem annos erit Tyro quasi canticum meretricis: 16

Sume citharam, circui civitatem,
meretrix oblivioni tradita:
bene cane, frequenta canticum,
ut memoria tui sit. 17
Et erit post septuaginta annos:
visitabit Dominus Tyrum,
et reducet eam ad mercedes suas,
et rursum fornicabitur cum universis regnis terræ
super faciem terræ; 18
et erunt negotiationes ejus et mercedes ejus sanctificatæ Domino:
non condentur neque reponentur,
quia his qui habitaverint coram Domino erit negotiatio ejus,
ut manducent in saturitatem, et vestiantur usque ad vetustatem.

[1] ‘Ocean-going ships’; in the Hebrew text, ‘ships of Tharsis’, and so in verses 10 and 14 below. The position of Tharsis is uncertain, but it is generally identified with Tartessus, on the Western coast of Spain. In that case a ‘ship of Tharsis’ would have to be one capable of resisting the seas of the Atlantic.

[2] Literally, ‘her feet will carry her far away to find a home’. In the Hebrew text, the sense may be ‘her feet used to carry her’, and the reference may be to the colonizing activity of the Phenicians.

[3] In the Hebrew text, ‘daughter of Tharsis’. This is understood by some as meaning that Tharsis, once Tyre had fallen, could enjoy complete liberty (the ‘girdle’ being interpreted as meaning the restraint of foreign domination). But there is no evidence that Tartessus was in any sense a colony of Tyre; it was only a trading station. The prophet, then, seems to be condoling with Tartessus on the loss of her imports, as he condoled with Egypt in verse 5 on the loss of her exports. Tharsis will now have to grow her own food; this is the sense implied by the rendering given in the Septuagint Greek, ‘Till thy own land, for no more vessels will come to thee from Carthage’.

[4] The Hebrew text here is different, and the interpretation of it is much disputed. It gives ‘has raised towers’ for ‘has carried off her warriors’.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd