Howl, you ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold is laid waste!
Parallel Translations
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Howl, you ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold is laid waste!
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Howl, ye ships of Tarshish: for your strength is laid waste.
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Howl, ye ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold is laid waste.
Cross-references (5)
Passages linked to Isaiah 23:14 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 23:1 The burden of Tyre. Howl, you ships of Tarshish! For it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in. From the land of Kittim it is revealed to them.
- Isaiah 2:16 for all the ships of Tarshish, and for all pleasant imagery.
- Isaiah 23:6 Pass over to Tarshish! Wail, you inhabitants of the coast!
- Ezekiel 27:25-30 “ ‘ “The ships of Tarshish were your caravans for your merchandise. You were replenished and made very glorious in the heart of the seas. Your rowers have brought you into great waters. The east wind has broken you in the heart of the seas. Your riches, your wares, your merchandise, your mariners, your pilots, your repairers of ship seams, the dealers in your merchandise, and all your men of war, who are in you, with all your company which is among you, will fall into the heart of the seas in the day of your ruin. At the sound of the cry of your pilots, the pasture lands will shake. All who handle the oars, the mariners and all the pilots of the sea, will come down from their ships. They will stand on the land, and will cause their voice to be heard over you, and will cry bitterly. They will cast up dust on their heads. They will wallow in the ashes.
- Revelation 18:11-19 The merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise any more: merchandise of gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, fine linen, purple, silk, scarlet, all expensive wood, every vessel of ivory, every vessel made of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble; and cinnamon, incense, perfume, frankincense, wine, olive oil, fine flour, wheat, sheep, horses, chariots, and people’s bodies and souls. The fruits which your soul lusted after have been lost to you. All things that were dainty and sumptuous have perished from you, and you will find them no more at all. The merchants of these things, who were made rich by her, will stand far away for the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, she who was dressed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls! For in an hour such great riches are made desolate.’ Every ship master, and everyone who sails anywhere, and mariners, and as many as gain their living by sea, stood far away, and cried out as they looked at the smoke of her burning, saying, ‘What is like the great city?’ They cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and mourning, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, in which all who had their ships in the sea were made rich by reason of her great wealth!’ For she is made desolate in one hour.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is, Tyre by whom ye are enriched.
That is, Tyre by whom ye are enriched.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 23:14 Howl, ye ships of Tarshish: for your…
Isa 23:14 Howl, ye ships of Tarshish: for your strength is laid waste.
Ver. 14. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish.] He concludeth this prophecy of Tyre’s downfall as he began. {Isa 23:1} The inhabitants of Tarshish, or Tarsus in Cilicia, were great ship masters; they sent a navy of a hundred ships to Xerxes when he went against Greece.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Your strength; the city of Tyre, where you found…
Your strength; the city of Tyre, where you found safety and wealth.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Howl, ye ships of Tarshish,.... As in Isa 23:1.…
Howl, ye ships of Tarshish,.... As in Isa 23:1. See Gill on Isa 23:1,
for your strength is laid waste; meaning Tyre, a strong seaport, where their ships were safe, and always found vent for their goods and merchandise; and so it was the strength and support of their country; but was now destroyed, and therefore was matter of lamentation and mourning.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Your strength - The city of Tyre, where you…
Your strength - The city of Tyre, where you found safety and wealth.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 14. Howl, ye ships] The Prophet Ezekiel hath…
Verse 14. Howl, ye ships] The Prophet Ezekiel hath enlarged upon this part of the same subject with great force and elegance: -
"Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH concerning Tyre: -
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At the sound of thy fall, at the cry of the wounded,
At the great slaughter in the midst of thee, shall
not the islands tremble?
And shall not all the princes of the sea descend from
their thrones,
And lay aside their robes, and strip off their embroidered
garments?
They shall clothe themselves with trembling, they shall
sit on the ground;
They shall tremble every moment, they shall be astonished
at thee.
And they shall utter a lamentation over thee, and shall say
unto thee:
How art thou lost, thou that wast inhabited from the seas!
The renowned city, that was strong in the sea, she and her
inhabitants!
That struck with terror all her neighbours!
Now shall the coasts tremble in the day of thy fall,
And the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy
departure."
Eze 26:15-18.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain “Howl ... Isa 23:1.
“Howl ... Isa 23:1.
For your strength - That which has been your support and strength; to wit, Tyre (compare Eze 26:15-18).
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain strength--stronghold (compare Eze 26:15-18).
strength--stronghold (compare Eze 26:15-18).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 14, 15. Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years —…
14, 15. Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years — Shall be of comparatively no account as an object for re-conquest. “Seventy years” is a compact series of decades, denoting at least a full long time; possibly, the figure here is a symbol for the period of a strong dynasty. Prophetic vision takes in things as wholes, be they as to periods longer or shorter. Historically there was nothing to hinder Tyre going on in her commerce, in unostentatious ways, under the Persian rule, till Alexander arose, some two hundred years later than Nebuchadnezzar. Alexander then attacked Tyre, but completed the ruin of her and her commerce more by establishing a great commercial rival, the city of Alexandria, in the western delta of the Nile, B.C. 332, than by his mere conquest of the city.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 14. The poem closes as it began with an…
14. The poem closes as it began with an apostrophe to the ships of Tarshish.
your strength) your strong-hold (R.V. as in Isa_23:4).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (14) Howl, ye ships of Tarshish: for your Strength…
(14) Howl, ye ships of Tarshish: for your Strength is laid waste.—The prophecy of woe ends as it began in Isa_23:1. The “strength” is the fortress of Tyre.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Howl, ye ships of Tarshish (comp. ver. 1). The…
Howl, ye ships of Tarshish (comp. ver. 1). The ships that traded with Tarshish, not those belonging to Tarshish, are intended. Your strength is laid waste; rather, your stronghold; i.e. Tyre itself. The elegy ends as it began, with a statement of the bare fact. Alexander"s destruction of the city was the final and complete fulfillment of the prophecy. The captures by Esarhaddou (G. Smith, "Eponym Canon," pp. 139-142), by Asshur-bani-pal (ibid., pp. 144.145), and by Nebuchadnezzar, were anticipations of the final one, and partial fulfillments of the prophecy.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.