Isaiah 23:4 - Exposition

Be thou ashamed, O Zidon . Zidon, the most ancient and venerable of the Phoenician cities ( Genesis 10:15 ; Joshua 11:8 ; Joshua 19:28 ; 18:7 ; Justin, 18:3 , etc.), is called upon to feel shame because Tyre is captured. The ruin of the metropolitan city would be felt as a disgrace by all the lesser towns, and by Zidon especially. The sea … even the strength of the sea ; rather, the stronghold of the sea ; i.e. Tyre herself. Tyre declares that she is childless, has neither son nor daughter, is as if she had never travailed nor brought forth children. I travail not , etc.; rather, I have not travailed , nor brought forth , nor nourished up, etc. My children being dead or taken from me, it is as if I had never borne them.