Isaiah 23:12
And he said, Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon: arise, pass over to Chittim; there also shalt thou have no rest. And he said, Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon: arise, pass over to Chittim; there also shalt thou have no rest.
Isaiah 23:12 stands in the first part of Isaiah, chapters 1 to 39, which contains prophecies and historical accounts given during Isaiah's active work among the rulers and the people as God's messenger to the nation, put forth as distinct single prophecies at different times and on different occasions and afterward gathered into one collection. This stands apart from chapters 40 to 66, which deal wholly with the future, with deliverance from Babylonian captivity and with deliverance from sin and error through the Messiah. Within that first part the verse belongs to a prophecy against the nations, specifically the oracle concerning Tyre and Sidon.
It predicts the humiliation and destruction of Tyre by Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar. This fall of Old Tyre is earlier and distinct from the later destruction by Alexander, when Tyre's stones and timbers and dust were thrown into the sea to make a bridge to New Tyre. The address to the daughter of Zidon reflects that Tyre was founded by a colony from Zidon. It was settled about twenty-five miles south of its mother city Sidon on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
By calling Tyre the oppressed virgin daughter of Zidon who shall no more rejoice, the verse means she would be brought to shame and lose her rejoicing. Chittim, also called Kittim, identifies the descendants of Javan and their country, possibly Cyprus. Old Tyre would be overthrown by the Chaldeans, and many of its people would escape to places of refuge including Chittim, yet even there they would find no rest or peace.