Isaiah 23-24: Three Stones the Devil Never Had

23 ¶ The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish, for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in; from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them.

² Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle; thou mart of Zidon, that by passing over the sea thou wert replenished.

³ Her provision was from the plantings that grow with the many waters of the Nile, of the harvest of the river. She was also the mart of the Gentiles.

⁴ Be thou ashamed, O Zidon, for the sea has spoken, even the strength of the sea, saying, I have never travailed nor brought forth children, neither did I nourish up young men nor bring up virgins.

⁵ When the report comes unto Egypt, they shall be sorely pained at the news from Tyre.

⁶ Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the isle.

⁷ Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? Her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.

⁸ Who has decreed this against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honourable of the earth?

⁹ The LORD of the hosts has purposed it to stain the pride of all glory and to bring down all those who are exalted in the earth.

¹⁰ Pass by as a river from thy land, O daughter of Tarshish; for thou shalt have no more strength.

¹¹ He stretched out his hand over the sea; he shook the kingdoms; the LORD commanded upon Canaan that her strength should be weakened.

¹² And he said, Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon; arise, pass over to Chittim, and even there thou shalt have no rest.

¹³ Behold the land of the Chaldeans. This people was not until the Assyrian founded it for those that dwell in the wilderness; they set up its towers; they raised up its palaces, and he brought it to ruin.

¹⁴ Howl, ye ships of Tarshish, for your strength is laid waste.

¹⁵ ¶ 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 Tyre shall sing as a harlot.

¹⁶ Take a harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing the song again that thou may be remembered.

¹⁷ And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the LORD will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire and shall commit fornication again with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.

¹⁸ But her profit and her hire shall be consecrated unto the LORD: it shall not be treasured nor laid up for her profit shall be for those that dwell before the LORD, to eat until they are filled and to dress honourably.

24 ¶ Behold, the LORD makes the earth empty and makes it naked and turns it upside down and scatters abroad its inhabitants.

² And it shall be, as with the people so with the priest; as with the slave so with his master; as with the maid so with her mistress; as with the buyer so with the seller; as with the lender so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury so with the giver of usury to him.

³ The land shall be utterly emptied and utterly spoiled: for the LORD has spoken this word.

⁴ The earth has destroyed itself and fallen; the world has become sick and fallen; the haughty peoples of the earth are become sick.

⁵ The earth is also become bankrupt under its inhabitants because they have transgressed the laws, falsified the order, broken the everlasting covenant.

⁶ Therefore the curse has consumed the earth, and those that dwell therein are found guilty; therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are consumed, and few men left.

⁷ The new wine is lost; the vine is sick; all those who were merryhearted sigh.

⁸ The mirth of tambourines ceases; the noise of those that rejoice ends; the joy of the harp ceases.

⁹ They shall not drink wine with a song; the drink shall be bitter to them that would drink it.

¹⁰ The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up that no man may come in.

¹¹ There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened; the mirth of the land is gone.

¹² In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.

¹³ ¶ For thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the peoples as the shaking of an olive tree, as the gleanings when the vintage is done.

¹⁴ These shall lift up their voice; they shall sing joyfully in the majesty of the LORD; they shall lift up their voice from the sea.

¹⁵ Therefore glorify ye the LORD in the valleys; let the LORD God of Israel be called upon by name in the isles of the sea.

¹⁶ ¶ From the uttermost part of the earth we have heard psalms, Glory to the righteous one. But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.

¹⁷ Fear and the pit and the snare are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.

¹⁸ And it shall come to pass that he who shall flee from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that shall come up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: because from on high, windows have been opened, and the foundations of the earth shall shake.

¹⁹ The earth shall be utterly broken down; the earth is clean dissolved; the earth is moved exceedingly.

²⁰ The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard and shall be removed like a cottage; and its transgression shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall and never rise again.

²¹ And it shall come to pass in that day that the LORD shall visit punishment upon the host of the high ones that are on high and upon the kings of the earth on the earth.

²² And they shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days they shall be visited.

²³ Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of the hosts shall reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and in the presence of his ancients he shall be glorious.