Isaiah 23:11
He stretched out his hand over the sea, he shook the kingdoms: the LORD hath given a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strong holds thereof. He stretched out his hand over the sea, he shook the kingdoms: the LORD hath given a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strong holds thereof.
Isaiah 23:11 stands in Isaiah 13 to 23, the portion of the book that gives prophecies against foreign nations and is directed against the nations. The merchant city is Tyre, a great commercial city and the commercial metropolis of the world at that time, named among the nations and peoples facing judgment. The verse declares the Lord's command and judgment against Tyre to destroy its strongholds.
It prophesies Tyre's destruction by the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar. Its people would escape, the city would later be restored for seventy years, and then be destroyed again, presented as fulfilled predictions. The verse is connected with Chittim, identified as the descendants of Javan and their country, supposedly Cyprus.