Isaiah: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66
23:1 MAS'A TSOR HEYLIYLU ANIYOT TARSHISH KI SHUDAD MI BAYIT MI BO ME ERETS KITIM NIGLAH LAMO
מַשָּׂא צֹר הֵילִילוּ אֳנִיּוֹת תַּרְשִׁישׁ כִּי שֻׁדַּד מִבַּיִת מִבּוֹא מֵאֶרֶץ כִּתִּים נִגְלָה לָמוֹ
KJ (King James translation): The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them.
BN (BibleNet translation): The pronouncement on Tsor. Howl, you ships of Tarshish, for it is laid waste from its temple to its gate; from the land of Kitim its destroyers have come to it.
The text now shifts to Tsor, usually rendered in the Yehudit as Tsur, which either way is Tyre in what is now the Lebanon, just across the northern Yisra-Eli border.
TARSHISH: As per my note at Genesis 10:4, where he is regarded as a son of YAVAN, which is to say Greece: "Two possibilities, the first the less likely: that it was Tartessus on the river Baetis in southern Spain, known today as the Guadalquivir; it was formerly a major colony and emporium of the Phoenician traders (known by them as Tarsus, as it was by the Romans later). Hugely significant later on, in that this was the destination of Yonah's (Jonah's) ship-of-flight, and this was where the Jews embarked for exile when the Spanish expelled them in 1492. It was also the ascribed birthplace of the Apostle Paul, though the Septuagint renders Tarshish as Carthage, which error is repeated in Targum Jonathan and in the Latin Vulgate".
TARSHISH: As per my note at Genesis 10:4, where he is regarded as a son of YAVAN, which is to say Greece: "Two possibilities, the first the less likely: that it was Tartessus on the river Baetis in southern Spain, known today as the Guadalquivir; it was formerly a major colony and emporium of the Phoenician traders (known by them as Tarsus, as it was by the Romans later). Hugely significant later on, in that this was the destination of Yonah's (Jonah's) ship-of-flight, and this was where the Jews embarked for exile when the Spanish expelled them in 1492. It was also the ascribed birthplace of the Apostle Paul, though the Septuagint renders Tarshish as Carthage, which error is repeated in Targum Jonathan and in the Latin Vulgate".
KITIM: generally reckoned to be Cyprus, though Cyprus is today rendered as CAPRISIN (קַפרִיסִין) - and should that not then be pohonetecised as KAPRISIN? See my note at Numbers 24:24, and it is very odd, given the information there, that what appears to be the same event should appear as "prophecy" in both the Mosaic Book of Numbers and this scroll of Yesha-Yah. Unless, as I keep repeating, Y-Y is not making prophecy at all, but making commentary on past history in order to draw out its lessons and apply them in the contemporary world. But if that is true, then this belongs to the period after the return from Exile, around the time of the Battle of Marathon, which took place in 490 BCE.
And clearly they could have used the attached illustration back then!
See my notes at Isaiah 2:16.
23:2 DOMU YOSHVEY IY SOCHER TSIYDON OVER YAM MIL'UCH
דֹּמּוּ יֹשְׁבֵי אִי סֹחֵר צִידוֹן עֹבֵר יָם מִלְאוּךְ
KJ: Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle; thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished.
BN: Be still, you inhabitants of the coast-land, you whom the merchants of Tsiydon, who cross the ocean, have made wealthy...
TSIYDON (Sidon), the next city of Levanon, going north out of Yisra-El, and very much, as per verse 2, the centre of the Phoenician trading empire, which stretched across the Mediterranean to the shores of Britain and Eireland, and quite probably reached the Americas, both north and south, to judge from the remarkable similarities of the henges, the mythological tales, and a great deal more.
23:3 U VE MAYIM RABIM ZERA SHICHOR KETSIR YE'OR TEVU'ATAH VA TEHI SECHAR GOYIM
23:3 U VE MAYIM RABIM ZERA SHICHOR KETSIR YE'OR TEVU'ATAH VA TEHI SECHAR GOYIM
וּבְמַיִם רַבִּים זֶרַע שִׁחֹר קְצִיר יְאוֹר תְּבוּאָתָהּ וַתְּהִי סְחַר גּוֹיִם
KJ: And by great waters the seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river, is her revenue; and she is a mart of nations.
BN: ... crossing vast seas for the grains of the Shichor, the harvest of the Nile, from which she obtained her revenue; for she was the trading centre of the world.
BN: ... crossing vast seas for the grains of the Shichor, the harvest of the Nile, from which she obtained her revenue; for she was the trading centre of the world.
SHICHOR: The root means "black", so the suggestion is of "muddied waters", the sort of thing that happens in a river's delta, where there is insufficient tide-flow to keep it clean and the surrounding soil can be very marshy. Joshua 19:26 has SHIYCHOR LIVNAT, which is very odd, because the root of LIVNAT means "white". As per my note there, see next Joshua 13:3, and then decide for yourself whether SHICHOR is a name for the Nile itself, at that part of the Delta, or simply a tributary flowing into it - I am thinking, by way of comparison, of one of the rivers that made London viable from ancient times, and which was known as the Kylebourne (Kilburn) when it left Hampstead, became the Ranelagh as it reached Padintune (Paddington), but then the Westbourne as it entered Hyde Park. Local names for the same waterway - why not?
Shichor as "the mart of nations" affirms its status. But Y-Y is an ultra-puritan (isn't he?) who hates every aspect of life that is not religious fanaticism, so the glory of Phoenicia is anathema to him, and so he is happy to see it assaulted and destroyed, and shamed into the bargain… (isn't that right? see the very next verse).
YE'OR is understood to be the River Nile - see for example Exodus 7, which uses the word about 20 times.
YE'OR is understood to be the River Nile - see for example Exodus 7, which uses the word about 20 times.
23:4 BOSHI TSIYDON KI AMAR YAM MA'OZ HA YAM LEMOR LO CHALTI VE LO YALADETI VE LO GIDALTI BACHURIM ROMAMTI VETULOT
בּוֹשִׁי צִידוֹן כִּי אָמַר יָם מָעוֹז הַיָּם לֵאמֹר לֹא חַלְתִּי וְלֹא יָלַדְתִּי וְלֹא גִדַּלְתִּי בַּחוּרִים רוֹמַמְתִּי בְתוּלוֹת
BN: Shame on you, Tsiydon; for the sea has spoken, the powerful voice of the sea, saying: "I have not sired children, nor given birth to any, nor have I raised young men, nor brought up virgins."
In other words, metaphorically, Tsur made tons of money out of someone else's produce, someone else's labour, but added nothing worthwhile of its own to this world, and had no moral or ethical base to what it did, just greed for wealth and power, and the capacity to bully others into vassaldom. The story of every Empire in human history, including the European empires until they crashed in the mid 20th century, and the Chinese and American empires that have come up to replace them today.
And of course that is a generalisation, and there must have been something useful and worthwhile that was produced. So I shall temper my remark, and acknowledge: in the case of Tsur and Tsidon, purple dye; in the case of America, Macdonald's hamburgers.
ROMAMTI VETULOT: The other three verbs - CHALTI, YALADETI and GADALTI - are the ones we would expect for human parenting: planting the seed, giving birth, and rearing: physical acts. ROMAMTI is different. ROMEMU...
Romemu Adonay eloheynu ve-hishtachavu la-hadom raglav, kadosh hu. Romemu Adonay eloheynu ve-hishtachavu le-har kadsho, ki kadosh Adonay eloheynu.
Exalt the Lord our God, and bow at His footstool. He is holy. Exalt the Lord our God, and bow at His holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy.”
is the song that is sung when the Torah scrolls are taken out of the Ark for reading, and the word means "exalt". How do you "exalt virgins"? That is about ethics and morality.
23:5 KA ASHER SHEM'A LE MITSRAYIM YACHIYLU KE SHEM'A TSOR
כַּאֲשֶׁר שֵׁמַע לְמִצְרָיִם יָחִילוּ כְּשֵׁמַע צֹר
KJ: As at the report concerning Egypt, so shall they be sorely pained at the report of Tyre.
BN: When they hear about its fate in Mitsrayim, they shall be dancing for joy at the reports from Tsor...
These are two very different translations. Which is correct? On the one hand, the destruction of the bullying empire that has enslaved you and is living on your wealth, will leave your country without a power-structure, without people trained and capable let alone ready to establish one, and an economy suddenly ruined. On the other hand, we'll cope, good riddance.
YACHIYLU: The root is CHUL, which is not just "a dance", but specifically "a circle dance", as in Judges 21:21/23, though you need 21:19 first to understand the sacred context (including the fact that the girls doing the dancing will be virgin priestesses, creatures much exalted). And other form of dancing, especially the secular, would use the verb LIRKOD (לרקוד).
But we cannot ignore other usages of the root. Deuteronomy 2:25 is the likely reason for the KJ translation here, though Deuteronomy 32:18 is strikingly coincidental in the context of verse 4 here.
23:6 IVRU TARSHIYSHAH HEYLIYLU YOSHVEY IY
עִבְרוּ תַּרְשִׁישָׁה הֵילִילוּ יֹשְׁבֵי אִי
BN: ...and all the way to Tarshish. Howl, you inhabitants of the coast-land...
IVRU: Impossible to ignore the pun here, especially as the phrase doesn't make a whole lot of sense intrinsically, so you can tell it's been contrived to enable the pun. From this root comes the word Habiru, or Hapiru, whence Hebrews.
YOSHVEY IY: An IY is indeed an island, and quite possibly the source of the word EYOT in English (brought in by the Celts, who came from the northern territories of the Phoenicians' ancestors, the Beney Chet (Hittites). But look again at the map above. What island? Cyprus is the only one of any size or significance this side of the Ionian Sea. Go further west and you have dozens of Greek islands, plus Crete, Malta, and on to the Canaries and the Ballearics... but this is IY, singular, not IYIM, plural. Psalm 72:10 does indeed pluralise it (as does Y-Y himself at 42:15), and in connection with Tarshish, so is it possible that the Y-Y text has an error... and not once but twice, because it is also singular at verse 2.
So I am going to add a third option to our location for Tarshish, because there is a village in the Lebanon, not thirty miles from Beirut, named Tarshish... except that it is located high up in the Ba'abda Kada'a, about four and a half thousand feet above sea level... so maybe not (we must consider every option and also know that there may be options that we do not even know exist to be consiedered), after all.
Which leaves you rightly asking: why then has he translated IY as "coastland", if it means "island"? Because actually the root may not only mean "island", but any land alongside either a river, a lake, or the sea - and that is precisely how Y-Y used it at 20:6, where the geography of the location is unequivocal about the absence of any islands, large or small.
HEYLIYLU: I have broken this line in two, placing a full-stop before Heyliylu and starting a new sentence there.
23:7 HA ZOT LACHEM ALIYZAH MI YEMEY KEDEM KADMATAH YOVILUHA RAGLEYHA ME RACHOK LAGUR
הֲזֹאת לָכֶם עַלִּיזָה מִימֵי קֶדֶם קַדְמָתָהּ יֹבִלוּהָ רַגְלֶיהָ מֵרָחוֹק לָגוּר
BN (word-by-word translation): Is that how you exulted in times gone by, in ancient times, in antiquity, carrying her feet from afar to sojourn?
BN (fuller translation): Is that how you achieved your self-esteem in times gone by, in ancient times, in antiquity, just like the Greeks and the Persians are doing to you today, making you walk away in chains, long, long distances to exile and slavery in their lands?
KEDEM...KADMATAH: From primitive times to mere antiquity, but also from the conquerors coming from the east to the ones now conquering their way KADMATAH [dative for] "to the east" - which again could be a reference to the war between the Greeks and the Persians that culminated at Marathon, as noted above. Though verse 13 suggests the Babylonians, and an earlier invasion from the east.
YOVILUHA: Yet again not the verb we would expect for "carrying" something, if this were a positive - that would be LISCHOV (לסחוב). Generally לְהוֹבִיל is used when you "lead, drive, haul, transport, carry, convey", which infers cargo, and here of a human sort, though it obviously includes the "grains of the Shichor" from verse 2.
LAGUR: To "sojourn", but not to settle. A "foreigner" or "stranger" in Yehudit is a GER, from the same root.
23:8 MI YA'ATS ZOT AL TSOR HA MA'ATIYRAH ASHER SOCHAREYHA SARIM KINE'ANEYHA NICHBADEY ARETS
מִי יָעַץ זֹאת עַל צֹר הַמַּעֲטִירָה אֲשֶׁר סֹחֲרֶיהָ שָׂרִים כִּנְעָנֶיהָ נִכְבַּדֵּי אָרֶץ
BN: Who has devised this against Tsor, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are the honourable of the Earth?
Is that KI NE'ANEYHA or KIN'ANEYHA? You might be surprised, but the word being used here is actually Canaanites. The people of the land were Hurrian (Beney Chor), but they acquired the nickname Kena'anim because of the purple dye, manufactured from the goo that oozes from a crushed murex, and which became the numero uno of Phoenician trading around the then-known world. Purple in the Hittite language that they spoke was "Phoinix", whence Phoenician; Purple in the Hurrian language was Kinnahu, whence Kena'an or Canaan. So the generic name is in use in our verse.
Sarcasm again! We have been trained to take these Prophets so religio-seriously that sarcasm and irony surprise us.
23:9 YHVH TSEVA'OT YE'ATSAH LECHALEL GE'ON KOL TSEVI LEHAKEL KOL NICHBADEY ARETS
Sarcasm again! We have been trained to take these Prophets so religio-seriously that sarcasm and irony surprise us.
23:9 YHVH TSEVA'OT YE'ATSAH LECHALEL GE'ON KOL TSEVI LEHAKEL KOL NICHBADEY ARETS
יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת יְעָצָהּ לְחַלֵּל גְּאוֹן כָּל צְבִי לְהָקֵל כָּל נִכְבַּדֵּי אָרֶץ
KJ: The LORD of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth.
BN: YHVH, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens, has devised it, to deflate the pride in all this glory, to bring into contempt all the honourable of the Earth.
YE'ATSAH: MI YA'ATS in the previous verse is now answered. It was YHVH.
LECHALEL is an interesting choice of verb, because it homophones LEHALEL, which would be "to praise". Cf Genesis 49:4 and Exodus 20:21 (20:25 in the KJ and some other versions).
23:10 IVRI ARTSECH KA YE'OR BAT TARSHISH EYN MEZACH OD
עִבְרִי אַרְצֵךְ כַּיְאֹר בַּת תַּרְשִׁישׁ אֵין מֵזַח עוֹד
BN: Overflow your land like the River Nile, O daughter of Tarshish! There is nothing left to hold it back.
23:11 YADO NATAH AL HA YAM HIRGIZ MAMLACHOT YHVH TSIVAH EL KENA'AN LASHMID MA'UZNEYHA
יָדוֹ נָטָה עַל הַיָּם הִרְגִּיז מַמְלָכוֹת יְהוָה צִוָּה אֶל כְּנַעַן לַשְׁמִד מָעֻזְנֶיהָ
KJ: 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.
BN: He has stretched out his hand over the sea. He has shaken the kingdoms. YHVH has issued his instructions regarding Kena'an, to destroy its strongholds.
KENA'AN: See my notes at verse 8.
LASHMID: A minor point, but why has Y-Y used the Po'al here, and not the Hiph'il? We would expect LEHASHMID.
23:12 VA YOMER LO TOSIYPHI OD LA'ELOZ HA ME'USHAKAH BETULAT BAT TSIYDON KITAYIM KUMI AVORI GAM SHAM LO YANU'ACH LACH
וַיֹּאמֶר לֹא תוֹסִיפִי עוֹד לַעְלוֹז הַמְעֻשָּׁקָה בְּתוּלַת בַּת צִידוֹן כתיים (כִּתִּים) קוּמִי עֲבֹרִי גַּם שָׁם לֹא יָנוּחַ לָךְ
BN: And he said: "You shall exult no more." O you oppressed virgin daughter of Tsiydon, get up, pass over to Kitayim; there too you shall find no rest."
LA'ELOZ: Or LA'LOZ; it looks like another of those complex end-of-syllable shvas, though on this occasion I think it may actually be an error in the pointing, and what was required was a segol. We have already seen the word at verse 7.
LA'ELOZ: Or LA'LOZ; it looks like another of those complex end-of-syllable shvas, though on this occasion I think it may actually be an error in the pointing, and what was required was a segol. We have already seen the word at verse 7.
ME'USHAKAH: The root means "to oppress", "to wrong", even "to extort", though I think that, on this occasion, a more precise translation might be "to pimp", because her journey into slavery is about to confirm my translation of KINE'ANEYHA as "traffickers" at verse 8. Though the inference at verse 4, and the use GAM SHAM here, infers that this may already have been the case for many of them, in Tsor and in Tsidon.
And of course it was, but there is a significant in this world between a prostitute and a hierodule, the former whoring to earn a living, the latter offering herself to the fertility rites in the role of priestess. Y-Y clearly disapproved of both.
KITAYIM: The Masoretic text reckons this to be an error, and verse 1 would certainly agree with that conclusion. KITAYIM, if it is correct, suggests a conurbation of either towns or states, in the same way as Yeru-Shalayim (seven hillside towns amalgamated into a single city) and Mitsrayim (Upper and Lower Egypt ruled as one). Otherwise the double-Yud can only be there because this is a masculine plural, and therefore has a Yud-Mem ending, but the pronunciation is Kiteem, which requires a second Yud, or at least a Yud-medugash, to show it. The same has been applied by the pointer to TSIY'IM, in the next verse, so it isn't obvious why he has parenthetically removed it from this one.
23:13 HEN ERETS KASDIM ZEH HA AM LO HAYAH ASHUR YESADAH LE TSIYIM HEKIYMU VACHUNAV ORERU ARMENOTEYHA SAMAH LE MAPELAH
הֵן אֶרֶץ כַּשְׂדִּים זֶה הָעָם לֹא הָיָה אַשּׁוּר יְסָדָהּ לְצִיִּים הֵקִימוּ בחיניו (בַחוּנָיו) עוֹרְרוּ אַרְמְנוֹתֶיהָ שָׂמָהּ לְמַפֵּלָה
KJ: Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not, till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness: they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof; and he brought it to ruin.
BN: Behold, the land of the Kasdim. This is the people that was not, until Ashur created it out of the desert tribes; they dug up up its ziggurats, they stripped its palaces, and turned the entire place into a ruin.
KASDIM: As in Ur Kasdim, Ur of the Chaldees, from which Av-Ram's family fled in Genesis 11.
He blames Ashur (Assyria) and Kesed (Chaldea) for founding it, though historically this is incorrect (he couldn't have known that).
Once again we have to assume Y-Y is talking about the exile of 586 BCE, and that this text therefore dates much later than scholars have traditionally reckoned.
TSIYIM: Usually these are understood to be the nomadic tribes who became sedentary. See Psalm 74:14 for the word. See the second part of my "Ancestry of the Patriarch" for the history of this - start right where we are in this verse, at "Kesed 7000 BCE".
He blames Ashur (Assyria) and Kesed (Chaldea) for founding it, though historically this is incorrect (he couldn't have known that).
Once again we have to assume Y-Y is talking about the exile of 586 BCE, and that this text therefore dates much later than scholars have traditionally reckoned.
TSIYIM: Usually these are understood to be the nomadic tribes who became sedentary. See Psalm 74:14 for the word. See the second part of my "Ancestry of the Patriarch" for the history of this - start right where we are in this verse, at "Kesed 7000 BCE".
However, this does not seem to be Y-Y's intention here. His are later desert Bedou, Talibaned by the Ashurim, used by them as proxies to destroy the existing civilisation.
VACHUNAV: Translated as towers, but a tower is a MIGDAL (מִגדָל), or perhaps a TSARIYACH (צָרִיחַ). What made Ur Kasdim famous were its step-pyramids, and they were called Ziggurats.
23:14 HEYLIYLU ANIYOT TARSHISH KI SHUDAD MA'UZCHEN
KJ: Howl, ye ships of Tarshish: for your strength is laid waste.
הֵילִילוּ אֳנִיּוֹת תַּרְשִׁישׁ כִּי שֻׁדַּד מָעֻזְּכֶן
KJ: Howl, ye ships of Tarshish: for your strength is laid waste.
BN: Howl, you ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold has been laid to waste. {S}
Is this now the 3rd time, or the 4th even, that this phrase has appeared? It is almost as if he is deliberately creating a catchphrase.
23:15 VE HAYAH BA YOM HA HU VE NISHKACHAT TSOR SHIVIM SHANAH KI YEMEY MELECH ECHAD MI KETS SHIVIM SHANAH YIHEYEH LE TSOR KE SHIRAT HA ZONAH
KJ: And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot.
23:15 VE HAYAH BA YOM HA HU VE NISHKACHAT TSOR SHIVIM SHANAH KI YEMEY MELECH ECHAD MI KETS SHIVIM SHANAH YIHEYEH LE TSOR KE SHIRAT HA ZONAH
וְהָיָה בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא וְנִשְׁכַּחַת צֹר שִׁבְעִים שָׁנָה כִּימֵי מֶלֶךְ אֶחָד מִקֵּץ שִׁבְעִים שָׁנָה יִהְיֶה לְצֹר כְּשִׁירַת הַזּוֹנָה
KJ: And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot.
BN: And it shall come to pass on that day, that Tsor will be forgotten for seventy years, like the life-length of one of its kings; at the end of those seventy years it will be for Tsor like the words in the song of the hierodule:
Tsor (precisely the time-period between the Babylonian conquest of Yehudah by Nebuchadnezzar and the return of the first Yehudim under Zeru-Bavel) will be lost for 70 years, after which it will revive… (see verse 17)
SHIYRAT HA ZONAH: Is this an actual song, in the way that somebody today might speak of a bridge over troubled water or note that the times they are a'changing, and take it for granted that people would recognise the allusion?
ZONAH: I have made the distinction earlier in this chapter between whores and prostitutes and hierodules. Which one is intended here will hopefully become obvious when we hear the quote from the song in the next verse.
SHIYRAT HA ZONAH: Is this an actual song, in the way that somebody today might speak of a bridge over troubled water or note that the times they are a'changing, and take it for granted that people would recognise the allusion?
ZONAH: I have made the distinction earlier in this chapter between whores and prostitutes and hierodules. Which one is intended here will hopefully become obvious when we hear the quote from the song in the next verse.
23:16 KECHI CHINOR SOBI IR ZONAH NISHKACHAH HEYTIYVI NAGEN HARBI SHIR LEMA'AN TIZACHERI
קְחִי כִנּוֹר סֹבִּי עִיר זוֹנָה נִשְׁכָּחָה הֵיטִיבִי נַגֵּן הַרְבִּי שִׁיר לְמַעַן תִּזָּכֵרִי
KJ: Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.
BN: "Take a harp, go about the city, you hierodule long forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that you may be remembered."
KECHI: Uses the feminine, and the end of the first phrase confirms it: he is addressing the city through the harlot of the song. Can we assume that he is also quoting from the song? Think of Don McLean constructing "American Pie" - practically a Cento.
HARBI SHIR: should surely be HARBEY SHIRIM, or is the root being used here as a verb? If so, the translation needs to reflect that.
ZONAH: And for confirmation that this is a vestal virgin and not a streetwalker, see my notes here on the role of the priestesses as dancers, singers and musicians in the Temple. Except that, to the puritanical Y-Y, it amounts to the same thing! Which is why he uses the word ZONAH.
HARBI SHIR: should surely be HARBEY SHIRIM, or is the root being used here as a verb? If so, the translation needs to reflect that.
ZONAH: And for confirmation that this is a vestal virgin and not a streetwalker, see my notes here on the role of the priestesses as dancers, singers and musicians in the Temple. Except that, to the puritanical Y-Y, it amounts to the same thing! Which is why he uses the word ZONAH.
23:17 VE HAYAH MI KETS SHIV'IM SHANAH YIPHKOD YHVH ET TSOR VE SHAVAH LE ETNANAH VE ZANTAH ET KOL MAMLECHOT HA ARETS AL PENEY HA ADAMAH
וְהָיָה מִקֵּץ שִׁבְעִים שָׁנָה יִפְקֹד יְהוָה אֶת צֹר וְשָׁבָה לְאֶתְנַנָּה וְזָנְתָה אֶת כָּל מַמְלְכוֹת הָאָרֶץ עַל פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה
KJ: And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the LORD will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.
BN: And it shall come to pass at the end of seventy years, that YHVH will reinstate Tsor, and she will resume her former activities, and engage again in commerce with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the Earth.
But the imagery infers that it will again be a form of whoring, that capitalism is simply whores and punters, and trade fornication. Which makes for an interesting commentary on, say, modern America, which claims to be driven by Judeo-Christian values, and yet, simultaneously, operates in the manner of Tsor: both the "whorishness" and the form of Capitalism (and the reason for my Taliban parallel a verse or two ago).
23:18 VE HAYAH SACHRAH VE ETNANAH KODESH LA YHVH LO YE'ATSER VE LO YECHASEN KI LA YOSHVIM LIPHNEY YHVH YIHEYEH SACHRAH LE ECHOL LE SAV'AH VE LI MECHASEH ATIK
KJ: And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the LORD: it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the LORD, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.
23:18 VE HAYAH SACHRAH VE ETNANAH KODESH LA YHVH LO YE'ATSER VE LO YECHASEN KI LA YOSHVIM LIPHNEY YHVH YIHEYEH SACHRAH LE ECHOL LE SAV'AH VE LI MECHASEH ATIK
וְהָיָה סַחְרָהּ וְאֶתְנַנָּהּ קֹדֶשׁ לַיהוָה לֹא יֵאָצֵר וְלֹא יֵחָסֵן כִּי לַיֹּשְׁבִים לִפְנֵי יְהוָה יִהְיֶה סַחְרָהּ לֶאֱכֹל לְשָׂבְעָה וְלִמְכַסֶּה עָתִיק
BN: And her earnings, and her profits, shall be holy to YHVH; it shall not be placed in a Treasury, nor otherwise stored; her gain shall be for those who dwell before YHVH, so that they may eat their fill, and to ensure they are properly clothed. {P}
And yet it will also become acceptable. How can that be? Because it will come as booty to the deity. But not in form of propitiatory sacrifices. Rather - and o my gosh, but is Y-Y advocating an early version of Socialism? - the wealth will be shared equally amongst all the people, not hoarded, not even for Temple adornment, but to feed and clothe those who follow the deity.
In other words, there is a recognition by Yesh'a-Yah that some form of Capitalism is unavoidable if human society is to flourish and prosper: the issue isn't Capitalism itself, but the way that it operates. Mosaic Law preaches, and provides a template, for "Ethical Capitalism"; at the end of this 70 year phase of the boom and bust, the new boom will be a Messianic boom, and every trader in the world will apply Mosaic Ethical Capitalism, and so it will be acceptable in the eyes of YHVH.
Worth looking at the several commentaries on this verse, here. Most of the scholars are surprised by the outcome, but, remember, the deep bond of friendship, as well as the religious connection, between the people of Tsur and Tsidon and those of Yeru-Shala'im: the name Adon, "Lord", starts with the Lebanese earth-god Adonis; the very design and ornamentation, indeed the very cedars of the Temple in Yeru-Shal'aim, came from the Lebanon. As to the benchmarks for Ethical Capitalism - there are numerous occasions when these are oulined; look at Deuteronomy 24:14-15 for just one very good example. For a much fuller account, both Mosaic and Talmudic, try here.
Isaiah:
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