What does Isaias Chapter 23 say, and which statements belong to its speaker?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The chapter’s sequence retains its particular images and conditions. Edition interpretations remain separately attributed rather than certified claims. Promises and warnings retain their scope without invented scenes or universal practical guarantees.

Chapter breakdown

Isaias 23 announces Tyre's burden to ships of the sea: the house from which they came is destroyed, with news revealed from Cethim. Island dwellers are told to be silent; Sidon's merchants and Nile harvest revenue describe the mart of nations. The sea speaks of not bearing or nourishing children. Egypt grieves, islanders are told to cross the seas, and the ancient city's feet carry her far away.

The Lord's counsel humbles Tyre's crowned glory, princely merchants and noble traders. The daughter of the sea has no girdle; kingdoms are troubled, Chanaan's strong ones face destruction, and Sidon's daughter will find no rest in Cethim. The Chaldean land, its Assyrian foundation, captive strong ones and ruined houses precede another call for ships to howl. A specific landing scene or demolished harbor wall is not supplied.

Tyre is forgotten seventy years according to one king's days. The forgotten harlot is urged to take a harp, walk the city and sing to be remembered. After seventy years the Lord restores traffic, described explicitly as renewed fornication with kingdoms. Merchandise and hire are sanctified, feeding and clothing those dwelling before the Lord rather than being stored. The edition separately associates this with Gentile conversion. The harlot is not sanitized as an entertainer, and the king's days are not fixed as a biological lifetime.

The story inside

Opening: The chapter’s sequence retains its particular images and conditions. Development: Edition interpretations remain separately attributed rather than certified claims. Conclusion: Promises and warnings retain their scope without invented scenes or universal practical guarantees.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The chapter’s sequence retains its particular images and conditions.
2
Edition interpretations remain separately attributed rather than certified claims.
3
Promises and warnings retain their scope without invented scenes or universal practical guarantees.

Test your recall

Which images and requests does the speaker use, and what does the chapter leave unresolved?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 80312–80317
23:8. Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, that was formerly crowned, whose merchants were princes, and her traders the nobles of the earth? 23:9. The Lord of hosts hath designed it, to pull down the pride of all glory, and bring to disgrace all the glorious ones of the earth.
Lines 80349–80355
23:18. And her merchandise and her hire shall be sanctified to the Lord: they shall not be kept in store, nor laid up: for her merchandise shall be for them that shall dwell before the Lord, that they may eat unto fulness, and be clothed for a continuance. Sanctified to the Lord.... This alludes to the conversion of the Gentiles.