The Lord speaks to the people in the city of Tyre
1The Lord was angry with the people in the city of Tyre and he spoke against them. He said:
‘Men on the boats of Tarshish,
you must cry, because Tyre is destroyed.
There are no more houses and there is
no harbour for the boats anymore.
You heard this when you came back
from the land of Cyprus.
2You who live near the sea,
you must be quiet.
The merchants of Sidon have made you rich.
3They brought wheat from Egypt
to Tyre over the sea and they sold it
to a lot of nations.
4People of Sidon,
you do not know what to do
because the city with strong walls
near the sea has talked and said:
“I never had any children.
I never raised young men and girls.”
5When they tell the Egyptians about this,
they will become afraid about
what happened to the city of Tyre.
They will say:
6“You who live near the sea,
you must go to the city of Tarshish
and you must cry.
7Is this the city where the people were so happy?
Is this the city that was here from long ago?
Is this the city from where people
have gone away to live in places far away?
8Who has decided that the city of Tyre
must be destroyed like this?
Tyre has chosen kings and anointed them to rule.
The merchants of Tyre were princes,
and they were the most important people on earth.” ’
9The Lord who rules over all
has decided this. He has decided
to punish the proud people,
10and to humiliate the important
people of the earth.
People of Tyre, you must now work in the fields
like the Egyptians, because there is
no longer a harbour for your boats.
11When the Lord puts out his hand over the sea,
the kings and their people start to tremble.
The Lord told the enemies to destroy
the cities in the land of Phoenicia,
the cities that had strong walls.
12The Lord said:
‘Sidon, you will not be happy
and celebrate anymore.
The enemies will destroy you.
Even if you go to Cyprus,
you will not get any rest there.
13Look at what happened
to the people of Babylon.
They are not a nation anymore.
The Assyrians went to war_against them
and they destroyed
their city with strong walls.
Now Babylon is only a heap of sand,
a place where desert animals live.
14The men on the boats of Tarshish
must cry because Tyre is destroyed.
The city where they were safe in the storms is destroyed.’
15Then the people will forget the city of Tyre for 70 years, for as long as a king lives. And after those 70 years, the city of Tyre will be like a prostitute, about whom people sing the words of this song:
16‘The people have forgotten you, o prostitute.
Take your harp and go through the city.
Play a beautiful song on the harp and sing a lot,
and people will remember you.’
17After the 70 years, the Lord
will help Tyre again and take care of it.
The people of the city will buy and
sell things to everyone in the world again,
18but they will not keep their money in the city.
The money will belong to the Lord
and the people who serve the Lord.
They will buy enough food
and beautiful clothes for themselves.
