Isaiah 23:2

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Isaiah 23:1-18

Judgment on Phoenicia (23:1-18)Commerce was the source of Phoenicia’s power. Its merchant navy was well known throughout the ancient world, and Phoenician traders sailed to ports far and near. Phoenicia’s own ports, Tyre and Sidon, were among the most prosperous cities of the time, but because of their commercial greed and corruption they too will be destroyed.The prophet pictures the scene in various places when Tyre falls. Phoenician traders who have sailed to Cyprus are shocked when they... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Isaiah 23:2

isle. Here, Tyre itself. thou whom = which. pass over = cross, in trading. In verses: Isaiah 23:2 , Isaiah 23:3 , Isaiah 23:6 , Isaiah 23:10 , Isaiah 23:12 , imperative, implying flight. read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Isaiah 23:2-3

Isaiah 23:2-3. Be still, &c.— The second apostrophe is addressed to the islands of the Mediterranean sea, which are here collectively called the isle, and which are summoned to silence and wonder. That this is the true interpretation appears from Ezekiel 26:16-17; Ezekiel 26:19. The order of the apostrophes is observable. The first is directed to the sailors of Tarshish, the inhabitants of the Farthest Spain, the most remote of all; the second to the islands of the Mediterranean sea, which... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 23:2

2. Be still—"struck dumb with awe." Addressed to those already in the country, eye-witnesses of its ruin ( :-); or, in contrast to the busy din of commerce once heard in Tyre; now all is hushed and still. isle—strictly applicable to New Tyre: in the sense coast, to the mainland city, Old Tyre (compare Isaiah 23:6; Isaiah 20:6). Zidon—of which Tyre was a colony, planted when Zidon was conquered by the Philistines of Ascalon. Zidon means a "fishing station"; this was its beginning.... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 23:2-3

Isaiah also directed the residents of the Phoenician coast, including Sidon, another important port, to be silent and motionless, since Tyre had collapsed. Tyre had been the marketplace for the large wheat crops that came from Egypt and were distributed to other Mediterranean lands. read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 23:1-18

The Doom of TyreTyre was a great mercantile centre of the ancient world, and at the time of the Hebrew monarchy chief state of Phœnicia, the parent of many colonies, and mistress of the Mediterranean. It is uncertain what siege of Tyre is here referred to; but see on Isaiah 23:13.1-5. The news of the fall of Tyre is spread. 6-9. Tyre must take refuge in her distant colonies, for her doom is purposed by Jehovah. 10-14. But even her colonies will afford no refuge, for the power of Phœnicia will... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 23:2

(2) Inhabitants of the isle . . .—Better, coast. The word was specially appropriate to the narrow seaboard strip of land occupied by the Phœnicians—Zidon, the older city, the “great Zidon” of Joshua 11:8; Joshua 19:28, appearing as the representative of Phœnicia generally. It was her commerce that had filled Tyre and the other daughter cities. The “dumbness” to which the prophet calls the people is that of stupefied terror. read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Isaiah 23:1-18

CHAPTER XVIIITYRE; OR, THE MERCENARY SPIRIT702 B.C.Isaiah 23:1-18THE task, which was laid upon the religion of Israel while Isaiah was its prophet, was the task, as we have often told ourselves, of facing the world’s forces, and, of explaining how they were to be led captive and contributory to the religion of the true God. And we have already seen Isaiah accounting for the largest of these forces: the Assyrian. But besides Assyria, that military empire, there was another power in the world,... read more

Arno Clemens Gaebelein

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Isaiah 23:1-18

CHAPTER 23 The Burden of Tyre 1. Tyre’s great disaster (Isaiah 23:1-5 ) 2. The complete overthrow (Isaiah 23:6-14 ) 3. Tyre’s future restoration and degradation (Isaiah 23:15-18 ) Tyre typifies the commercial expansion and glory of the world. Behind this commercial glory stands Satan, the god of this age. Read Ezekiel 28:11-19 . Nebuchadnezzar carried out judgment upon Tyre Ezekiel 29:17-21 . A revival of Tyre is also predicted. We call attention to a statement in the beautiful... read more

John Calvin

Geneva Study Bible - Isaiah 23:2

23:2 Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle; thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass over the sea, have {f} replenished.(f) Have hunted and enriched you. read more