Verse 12
(12) Thou oppressed virgin.—Strictly speaking, the noun and adjective are incompatible, the latter conveying the sense of “defiled,” or “deflowered.” Till now Tyre had known no defeat. Her fortress was a virgin citadel. Now the barbarian conqueror was to rob her of that virginity.
Pass over to Chittim.—With a keen irony the prophet gives a counsel which he declares will be of no avail. They may flee to Chittim (Cyprus); but the power of the Assyrians would reach them even there. Once and again the inscriptions of the Assyrian kings record how they subdued and took tribute from “Yatnan,” the “island in the sea of the setting sun,” which can be none other than Cyprus (e.g., Sargon in Records of the Past, vii. 26).
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