Isaiah 23:6

6 Howl with grief, you people of Phoenicia! Try to escape to Spain!

Isaiah 23:6 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 23:6

Pass ye over to Tarshish
Either to Tartessus in Spain, or to Tarsus in Cilicia, which lay over against them, and to which they might transport themselves, families, and substance, with greater ease; or "to a province of the sea", as the Targum, any other seaport; the Septuagint says to Carthage, which was a colony of the Tyrians; and hither the Assyrian F21 historians say they did transport themselves; though Kimchi thinks this is spoken, not to the Tyrians, but to the merchants that traded with them, to go elsewhere with their merchandise, since their goods could no more be disposed of in that city as usual.

Howl, ye inhabitants of the isle:
of Tyre, as in ( Isaiah 23:2 ) or of every isle, as Aben Ezra, which traded here, because now their commerce was at an end; so Kimchi.


FOOTNOTES:

F21 Apud Hieron. in loc.

Isaiah 23:6 In-Context

4 City of Sidon, you are disgraced! The sea and the great ocean depths disown you and say, "I never had any children. I never raised sons or daughters.
5 Even the Egyptians will be shocked and dismayed when they learn that Tyre has been destroyed.
6 Howl with grief, you people of Phoenicia! Try to escape to Spain!
7 Can this be the joyful city of Tyre, founded so long ago? Is this the city that sent settlers across the sea to establish colonies?
8 Who was it that planned to bring all this on Tyre, that imperial city, whose merchant princes were the most honored men on earth?
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.