And by great waters the seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river, is her revenue; and she is a mart of nations.
The verse belongs to the first part of Isaiah, chapters 1 to 39, composed while Isaiah was actively engaged in public affairs as God's messenger to the rulers and the people. It stands as one of the single distinct prophecies published at different times and on different occasions and afterward brought together into one collection, not as part of the later wholly future contemplation of chapters 40 to 66. Its chronological place is uncertain, since several chapters in this first part are transposed out of chronological order.
Tyre, whose antiquity is of ancient days, was founded by a colony from Sidon about twenty-five miles south of the mother city on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, planted in a pleasant place. In the days of Isaiah, 715 B.C., Tyre was the crowning city. The seed of Sihor and harvest of the river is the grain produced by the Nile's fertile waters, which became revenue for the city by way of great waters. As a mart of nations she was the commercial metropolis of the world, the London of Asia, a great marketplace serving many nations, whose merchants were princes and whose traffickers were the honorable of the earth.
Her revenue came from worldwide sea traffic, a continual world's fair, with shipboards of fir, masts of cedar of Lebanon, oars of oak of Bashan, benches of ivory, sails of fine linen with broidered work from Egypt, coverings of blue and purple from the isles of Elishah, mariners from Sidon and Arvad, pilots from her own wise men, and an army hired from Persia, Lud, Phut, and Arvad. Tarshish traded silver, iron, tin, and lead; Javan, Tubal, and Meshech traded persons of men and vessels of brass; Togarmah traded horses, horsemen, and mules; Dedan traded horns of ivory and ebony and precious clothes for chariots; Syria traded emeralds, purple and broidered work, fine linen, coral, and agate; and Damascus traded wine of Helbon and white wool. Judah and Israel traded wheat, honey, oil, and balm; Arabia traded lambs, rams, and goats; Sheba and Raamah traded chief of all spices, precious stones, and gold; Babylonia and Assyria traded all sorts of things in blue clothes and broidered work, chests of rich apparel bound with cords and made of cedar; and by the multitude of her riches and merchandise she enriched the kings of the earth.
The verse is part of the chapter's predictions concerning Tyre, which include its destruction and later fate. The chapter prophesies the destruction of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar, distinct from its later destruction by Alexander when its stones and timber and dust were thrown into the sea to make a bridge to New Tyre.
The verse belongs to the first part of Isaiah, chapters 1 to 39, composed while Isaiah was actively engaged in public affairs as God's messenger to the rulers and the people. It stands as one of the single distinct prophecies published at different times and on different occasions and afterward brought together into one collection, not as part of the later wholly future contemplation of chapters 40 to 66. Its chronological place is uncertain, since several chapters in this first part are transposed out of chronological order.
Tyre, whose antiquity is of ancient days, was founded by a colony from Sidon about twenty-five miles south of the mother city on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, planted in a pleasant place. In the days of Isaiah, 715 B.C., Tyre was the crowning city. The seed of Sihor and harvest of the river is the grain produced by the Nile's fertile waters, which became revenue for the city by way of great waters. As a mart of nations she was the commercial metropolis of the world, the London of Asia, a great marketplace serving many nations, whose merchants were princes and whose traffickers were the honorable of the earth.
Her revenue came from worldwide sea traffic, a continual world's fair, with shipboards of fir, masts of cedar of Lebanon, oars of oak of Bashan, benches of ivory, sails of fine linen with broidered work from Egypt, coverings of blue and purple from the isles of Elishah, mariners from Sidon and Arvad, pilots from her own wise men, and an army hired from Persia, Lud, Phut, and Arvad. Tarshish traded silver, iron, tin, and lead; Javan, Tubal, and Meshech traded persons of men and vessels of brass; Togarmah traded horses, horsemen, and mules; Dedan traded horns of ivory and ebony and precious clothes for chariots; Syria traded emeralds, purple and broidered work, fine linen, coral, and agate; and Damascus traded wine of Helbon and white wool. Judah and Israel traded wheat, honey, oil, and balm; Arabia traded lambs, rams, and goats; Sheba and Raamah traded chief of all spices, precious stones, and gold; Babylonia and Assyria traded all sorts of things in blue clothes and broidered work, chests of rich apparel bound with cords and made of cedar; and by the multitude of her riches and merchandise she enriched the kings of the earth.
The verse is part of the chapter's predictions concerning Tyre, which include its destruction and later fate. The chapter prophesies the destruction of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar, distinct from its later destruction by Alexander when its stones and timber and dust were thrown into the sea to make a bridge to New Tyre.