Isaiah 23

The burden of Tyre. Howl, you ships of the sea, for the house is laid waste from which they were wont to come: from the land of Cethim it has been revealed to them. Be silent, you who dwell in the island, the merchandise of Sidon. The prophet Ezekiel sets forth more plainly and more fully both the overthrow of Tyre and the causes of the overthrow, saying: Son of man, because Tyre has said of Jerusalem: Aha, the gates of the peoples are broken, she has turned to me, I shall be filled, she is deserted. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and I will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea comes up in waves, and I will scatter the walls of Tyre, and destroy its towers, and I will scrape its dust from it (Ezek 26:2ff.). And who these many nations are, which will flood over Tyre like the surging sea, he teaches by name in what follows: Behold, I will bring upon Tyre Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the North, a king of kings, with horses and chariots and horsemen, and a great company and people. Your daughters that are in the field he will slay with the sword; and he will surround you with siegeworks, and will heap up a mound round about, and will raise the shield against you, and will set mantlets and battering rams against your walls, and will destroy your towers with his weapons, and the rest that follows to the end of the vision. For in another prophecy too, which is seen to be against the Egyptians, the same Scripture weaves in: Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has made his army serve a great service against Tyre: every head made bald, and every shoulder rubbed bare, and no wage has been paid to him, nor to his army, for Tyre (Ezek 29). By this he signifies that a mound was heaped up over a long time by the army of Babylon, so that he tried beforehand to do what Alexander did afterwards, joining the island to the mainland (Quintus Curtius, book 4). Just as, therefore, we have read above God's threats against Babylon and the Philistines, and Moab, and Egypt, and the Edomites and Ishmaelites, because they mocked the captivity of his people, so now too a prophecy is woven against Tyre, hostile and mocking at the overthrow of Jerusalem: that it too is to be destroyed by the same enemy. We have read the histories of the Greeks, and especially of those who describe the wars of the Assyrian nation; and there we find that after the captivity of Jerusalem the Palestinians, and the Arabs, and the Damascenes, and after them the Egyptians were overthrown. And that these nations, and Tyre above all, always attacked Israel and rejoiced at its overthrow, the prophet Amos explains at the opening of his volume (Amos 1), and the Psalmist, briefly singing praises to God, declares: O God, who will be like you? Do not keep silent, nor be restrained, O God. For behold, your enemies have made a noise: and those who hate you have lifted up the head. They have devised malicious counsel against your people, and have plotted against your holy ones. They have said: Come, and let us destroy them from being a nation, and let the name of Israel be remembered no more. For they have plotted with one mind, together they have made a covenant against you: the tents of the Edomites, and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagarenes, Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, the foreigners with the inhabitants of Tyre (Ps 82 [83]:1ff.). From all these we learn that the weight of God's wrath came upon Tyre the harlot, who is described here under the figure of a prostitute, and in Ezekiel under the metaphor of a ship (Ezek 27). Howl, he says, you ships of the sea. For this we read in the Seventy of Carthage; and in the Hebrew there is THARSIS (תרשיש), about which I have argued both on the prophet Jonah and in a certain letter. And because Carthage is a colony of the Tyrians, we can in the present place take Tharsis not only as the sea in general but also as Carthage: that ships no longer come to Tyre from Africa, nor from the land of Cethim, which some interpret as Cyprus: for to this day there is among them the city of Citium, from which came Zeno too, the heresiarch of the Stoic sect; although many of our writers, and especially the beginning of Maccabees, consider Cethim to be the islands of Italy and Macedonia. For Scripture records this, that Alexander king of the Macedonians went out from the land of Cethim.

The word of Tyre. What we thought about the burden, or word and taking up, of Tyre according to the Hebrews, we have said above in the book of the historical explanation of the ten Visions. Now we shall run briefly through the whole prophecy against Tyre according to the ἀναγωγὴν and the edition of the Seventy. Tyre is called SOR (צר) in the Hebrew tongue, and is rendered into our speech as distress. Every soul, then, that is taken up with vices and evil thoughts can be called sor.

Howl, you ships of Carthage, for they have perished, and shall come no more. From the land of the Kittim she has been led captive. To whom are the inhabitants of the isle become like? The merchants of Phoenicia, crossing the sea in many waters, the seed of merchants like harvests brought in, the merchants of the nations. For Carthage, in the Hebrew is written THARSIS (תרשיש), which all have translated alike. And Tharsis means contemplation or searching out of joy. Kittim too, which in Hebrew is called CHETIM (כתים), means sea congealing; and for Phoenicia, Sidon is read among them. Those, then, are rebuked whom a throng of evil thoughts surrounds, and who, wishing, as the Apostle says, to become rich, fall into temptations and snares of the devil, and many harmful desires, which drag men down into the deep (1 Tim 6). And they are told that they must howl, knowing that all the trading of this world will perish, and the contemplation of joy and gladness be turned into mourning and tears. For this sea can be sailed no longer, but all things will freeze; and the colonies of the Tyrians will be led captive to punishment.

The burden of Tyre. In this part he threatens against the Tyrians, who were joined to the people of God by association in trade. And this is divided into two parts: first, he threatens the destruction which was carried out by Nabuchodonosor; in the second part, he promises liberation: and it shall come to pass after seventy years (Isa 23:17). Concerning the first, he sets out three things: first, the sadness of the compassionate; second, the flight of the fearful: pass over the seas (Isa 23:6); third, the punishment of destruction: the Lord has given a charge (Isa 23:11).

Concerning the first, he sets out three things. First, the sorrow of the traders, setting out their mourning: howl, you ships, namely Carthaginian ships: the merchants of the earth have been made rich by the power of her delicacies (Rev 18:3); and the motive of their mourning: the house is destroyed, that is, Tyre, from whence was wont to come, trade; and also the manner in which they learned of it: from the land of Cethim, that is, Greece: Alexander . . . coming out of the land of Cethim, had overthrown Darius (1 Macc 1:1).

Still, it was when humanity was in this state that the Word—the Son—came to seek and to find that which was lost. Even before he came, he tried to restrain us from such foolishness, crying out, "Don't be like the horse and the mule which have no understanding and whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle." And because his own people were careless and acted as the wicked did, Isaiah, praying in the Spirit said, "You are to me like merchants of Phoenicia."

And in naming it an island he does not lie: for afterwards it was made part of the mainland by Nebuchadnezzar or by Alexander, when many mounds were heaped up in the narrow strait for its capture. He also calls it the merchandise of Sidon, in keeping with the following line, in which he says: Be ashamed, O Sidon. For the histories relate that Tyre is a colony of Sidon.

Those crossing the sea have filled you; in many waters the seed of the Nile, the harvest of the river is its produce. That Tyre delights in trade and is the emporium of the whole world, both present times prove and Ezekiel describes at length. And that merchants cross the seas in carrying their goods, there is no one who doubts; nor does the city itself have such great wealth from the land of its own region, which is very narrow and hemmed in by the borders of Galilee and of Damascus, as it has from the shipping of goods.

For those who dwell in this isle are like no others than merchants, or carriers, who are carried about by every wind of doctrine and pass from one vice to another. And we dwell in an isle as long as we are beaten by the temptations of this world, and on every side our isle and little boat is struck by the waves of the sea. Now the merchants of this isle are from Sidon, which means huntress, and in which dwell very many hunters, of whom it is written: He will deliver you from the snare of the hunters (Ps 90 [91]:3). And in another place the saint rejoices that he has been delivered from their snares, saying: Our soul has been rescued like a sparrow from the snare of the hunters (Ps 123 [124]:7).

Second, he sets out their stupor: be silent, adding three things in which they gloried, namely, in the fortification of their position: you that dwell in the island; in the abundance of their merchandise: trade, that is, in which they trade; have filled you, with riches; in abundance of grain: the seed of the river Nile, that is, her harvest, and revenue, namely of Tyre, for much wheat came to them from Egypt, and therefore she is become the mart of the nations: say to Tyre that dwells at the entry of the sea, being the mart of the people for many islands (Ezek 27:3).

The whole Nile and the fertility of Egypt pour into Tyre from close at hand. For Nile, which we read among the Hebrews as SIOR (שיחר), the Seventy and Theodotion interpreted merchants; this word means turbid, and by this signifies the waters of the Nile, as Jeremiah testifies: What have you to do with Egypt, that you should drink the waters of Geon? (Jer 2:18): for which in the Hebrew there is Sior, that is, turbid.

And all the merchants of the nations are compared to crops which quickly wither, or to the harvests of the river, which have their rain not from heaven but from the earth; and therefore they will perish with the nations. Where we read the seed of merchants, in the Hebrew is written the seed of sior, by which the Nile is understood, because it has turbid waters with which the crops of Egypt are watered.

If all our acts and deeds depend on the fates acquired at our birth and not on principles of morality, why are laws established and statutes promulgated by which punishment is meted out to the wicked and security bestowed on the innocent?… Why does the farmer toil and not rather wait until it is time to convey into his storehouses the produce for which he has not labored, relying on the prerogatives of his birth? If he was destined by birth to be endowed with wealth without the expenditure of labor, he should undoubtedly wait until the earth brings forth fruit spontaneously without seed. If such were the case, he should not sink his ploughshare into the earth or put his hands on the curved scythe or undergo the expense of harvesting the grapes. Rather, the wine would without effort flow plenteously into his stock of jars. Without effort, too, he would let the wild olive berry exude its oil without the labor of grafting upon the trunk of the olive tree. In the same way a merchant who travels over the wide seas would not be in dread of the perils that threaten his own life, for it is within his power, because of a certain destiny allotted to him at birth, to come without labor into a wealth of treasure.But this is far from the accepted opinion. As a matter of fact, the farmer cleaves the earth "with deep-driven plough"; "stripped he ploughs, stripped he sows"; stripped in the glowing "heat he thrashes on the floor the parched ears." The merchant, impatient when the east winds are blowing, ploughs the sea often when the course is unsafe. Insolent and rash men such as these are condemned by the prophet, who says, "Be ashamed, O Sidon, the sea speaks." That is to say, if dangers do not move you, then shame can check and modesty confound you. "Be ashamed, O Sidon," in which there is no place for virtue, no care for safety, no young men exercised in arms and ready to fight in defense of their country. They are anxiously and entirely preoccupied with gain and the benefits derived from commerce.

Therefore, after being so often ploughed by returning merchants, "Be ashamed, O Sidon, has said the sea." This is the voice of the fatigued element, as it were, saying, "Be ashamed, Sidon"; that is: Merchant, you accuse my waves although you yourself are more restless than they. Blush indeed for shame since you are not disturbed by peril. More modest are the winds than your desires. They have their rests; never do your cravings for gain take holiday. Even when the weather is quiet, never are your ships quiet. The water is churned under the oar when it is at rest from the blast. "I have not been in labor," it says, "nor have I reared, nor have I nourished up young men." Why do they disquiet me whom I do not know, whom I do not acknowledge?

Sidon is brought to shame, as it were, by the voice of the sea, when the life of one who is fortified and supposedly steadfast is reprobated in comparison with the lives of those who are worldly and are being tossed about in this world. For often there are those who, returning to the Lord after their sins of the flesh, evince themselves the more zealous in doing good works, as they realize they were worthy of condemnation for their deeds. And often certain people who persevere in preserving the integrity of the flesh, on perceiving that they have less to deplore, think to themselves that the innocence of their lives is sufficient and do not arouse themselves by zealously striving to be fervent in spirit.

Divine Providence has compassed us about and cut off all excuse. All openings to people's equivocating arts are in every way closed. A Gentile, one without the law, is brought forward to confound the iniquity of those that are under the law; which is well and summarily shown by the prophet, when he says, "Be ashamed, O Sidon, says the sea." For in Sidon we have a figure of the steadfastness of those settled upon the foundation of the law, and in the sea of the life of the Gentiles. Accordingly, "Be ashamed, O Sidon, says the sea," because the life of those under the law is convicted by the life of Gentiles, and the conduct of people in a state of religion is put to confusion by the conduct of those living in the world, so long as the first do not, even under vows, observe what they hear enjoined in precepts. The latter by their manner of life keep those ways so that they are not in any wise bound by legal enactments.

Be ashamed, O Sidon: for the sea has spoken, the strength of the sea, saying: I have not travailed, and I have not brought forth, and I have not nourished young men, nor brought up virgins. I said above that Tyre is a colony of the Sidonians. Hear, then, O mother, all the seas crying out together against your daughter, and in a manner uttering a voice, though by nature they cannot speak: In vain have I brought riches together; to no purpose have I gathered wealth from the whole world into Tyre: she that was rich, she that was luxurious, and once rejoiced in a multitude of peoples, in which a throng of mortals was born, a troop of children, swarms of youth, whose streets rang with the games of virgins and infants, of young men and girls, has now been reduced to solitude. It is customary to make προσωποποιΐας out of mute things.

Be ashamed, O Sidon, said the sea; and the strength of the sea said: I have not travailed, nor brought forth, nor nourished young men, nor brought up virgins. And when it is heard in Egypt, pain shall seize them over Tyre. The sea of this world, in which dwell small animals with great, and the dragon which God formed to be mocked, seeing that those who had formerly been taken by the demons have been taken by the hunters of Christ, who hunt from every mountain and hill, speaks to the opposing power of the hunters, which Sidon means, and says to it: Be ashamed, O Sidon; for I have not travailed nor brought forth, nor nourished the young men taken by you, nor brought up the virgins whose folly is condemned in the Gospel (Matt 25). For my travail and childbearing, and my nourishing and bringing up of virgins, have been blotted out by the travail of the Apostles of Christ, one of whom said: My little children, of whom I travail again until Christ be formed in you (Gal 4:19). And: I gave you milk to drink, not solid food (1 Cor 3:2). And again: I wish to present you all as a chaste virgin to Christ (2 Cor 11).

To convince you of this, return again to the sea, and observe its depths, its extent, its division into bays, its shores, its port, the islands in its midst, the kinds of fishes in it and their species, shapes, variety and fondness for the shore.…Since journeying by land is fraught with difficulty and the satisfaction of all our needs on such journeys is not only difficult but impossible, the surface of the sea is there to take vessels, small and large, and to provide much necessary cargo for those in short supply. A single frigate can be seen taking as much as many thousand beasts. To ease the burden for seafarers the Creator made islands as ports in which they could call, rest, buy their needs and then set sail again for their destination. "Be ashamed" then "at this multitude of blessings, said the sea." For the words of the prophet apply more to you than to Sidon. For Sidon, ignoring the Creator, divided the divinity into many gods, mutilated the monotheistic form of worship and extended it to nonexistent deities, not indeed denying providence but ascribing it also to these false gods. For it would not offer sacrifice to these false gods unless it had fully persuaded itself that they provide assistance and avert disaster. But you who have been delivered from the error of polytheism and agree that all visible things are created; you, who adore their Creator, banish him from his creatures, set him completely outside his creation, assert that such an ordered universe is without a pilot and is borne about aimlessly like a ship without ballast. Be ashamed, then, at the blessings received from the sea, from the earth, from the air, from the sun and the sky that affords a roof over our heads. Respect the tribute you receive from creation.

Third, he sets out the confusion of their neighbors. And first, of the Sidonians, whose colony Tyre was: the sea, that is, traders of the sea, speaks: be you ashamed, O Sidon, for you did not defend Tyre; for my strength, that is, Tyre, is saying: I have not been in labor, that is: it profited me not to have been in labor, for I was captured. Or otherwise: the sea, that is, the strength of the sea, that is, the traders who were strong on the sea, speaks: be you ashamed, O Sidon, saying: I have not been in labor, in the defense of Tyre. Or otherwise: Sidon speaks: O Sea, even the strength of the sea, that is, Tyre, be ashamed, you, Tyre, saying what follows. Or Sidon saying: while you may have been born from me, O Tyre, you were captured thus as if I had not labored with you, below: I will proceed to cause an admiration (Isa 29:14).

When it has been heard in Egypt, they will grieve when they hear of Tyre. This is plain: that the Egyptians, after they have heard that a most mighty and neighboring nation has been destroyed by a long siege, know that destruction is drawing near to them too.

When Egypt hears this, which in Hebrew is called MESRAIM (מצרים), which means ἐκθλίβουσα, that is, afflicting and constraining, it too will be terrified, understanding that it too will suffer the same things that Tyre has suffered. And while this is referred to all vices, it can also be perceived in the diversity of the heresies, when, one heresy being taken, another trembles, and in the confusion of one the other perceives that it is to be taken. And as it is said of Sodom: For if the signs had been done in them which were done in Capernaum, they would have remained until this day; and it is added: But it shall be more tolerable for Sodom in the day of judgment than for you: so we learn of Tyre and Sidon, the Savior saying: But it shall be lighter for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for that city (Matt 11:21ff.). Hence too the Canaanite woman, who understood that her daughter, that is, her soul, was grievously vexed by a demon, is said to have come out of the borders of Tyre and Sidon to pray to Christ. For she could not otherwise have gone to meet the Savior, unless she had left the borders of Tyre and Sidon.

Second, of the Egyptians: when it shall be heard in Egypt: behold I do a thing in Israel: and whosoever shall hear it, both his ears shall tingle (1 Sam 3:11).

Cross the seas, howl, you who dwell in the island. Again, for sea and Tharsis the Seventy translated Carthage. We read in the histories of the Assyrians that the besieged Tyrians, when they saw no hope of escape, embarked on ships and fled to Carthage, or to other islands of the Ionian and Aegean sea. Hence too it is said in Ezekiel: No wage has been paid to him, nor to his army, for Tyre (Ezek 29): because all the wealth of the city had been carried away, and all the nobles had left it empty.

Go to Carthage; howl, you who dwell in this isle. Is not this your disgrace from the beginning, before she was delivered up? Her feet shall lead her far off to sojourn. What follows, Her feet shall lead her far off to sojourn, has been added from the Hebrew, and is marked beforehand with an asterisk, that is, with shining stars. O Tyrians, you who dwell in distress and abide in an isle, exposed on every side to the waves of temptations, depart from it, and go to Carthage, that is, Tharsis, and hasten to true joy, mourning your old sins and the ancient disgrace which you either inflicted on others or suffered from them. And I command this because you see Tyre, your city, about to move from its seats and purpose to other borders, when, having laid aside their old error, they have bowed their necks to the Gospel of the Savior; so that those who formerly dwelt in distress may depart far off and become sojourners and dwellers in the teaching of the Lord the Savior.

Pass over the seas. Here he foretells the flight of the fearful, as to those who, when Nabuchodonosor was attacking the city, fled into Egypt with their ships. And first, he exhorts them to flight, second, to constancy or haste of flight: pass your land (Isa 23:10). Concerning the first, he does three things. First, the flight of the fearful: pass over, you who flee, howl, you who remain, above: the branches thereof are left, they are gone over the sea (Isa 16:8).

Is not this yours, which gloried from the days of old in its antiquity? He convicts Tyre of pride, because it gloried in the antiquity of its founding and did not look to God, but, recalling the names of its fathers, thought itself eternal.

Its own feet will lead it far away to sojourn abroad. He means those who had remained in the city and were led captive to Babylon.

Second, the ignominy of those who remain: is this not; and concerning this, he does two things. First, he foretells their ignominy, recalling first their former glory: is not this yours, namely, your city? Her feet shall carry her afar off, as to those taken captive: my delicate ones have walked rough ways (Bar 4:26).

Who has devised this against Tyre, once crowned? Read Ezekiel again (Ezek 27), and you will learn from the lament over its prince how great the glory of Tyre was. He calls it crowned because, as a king among a great multitude of men raises his head adorned with a diadem, so Tyre, gleaming and lofty in riches, and shining with gold and gems and silk and purple, was esteemed a queen among all nations.

Whose merchants are princes, its traders the renowned of the earth. We marvel that the envoy of Pyrrhus once said of the city of Rome: I have seen a city of kings. Behold, long before those times the merchants and traders of Tyre are described as princes and renowned men: so that by this the greatness of its opulence is shown, since a merchant of Tyre could be a king in the other's words.

Who has purposed these things against Tyre? Is she less, or does she not prevail? Her merchants are princes of Canaan, the renowned of the earth. The Lord Sabaoth has purposed to dissolve all the insolence of those who glory, and to dishonour all that is renowned upon the earth. The word Canaan has been added from the edition of Theodotion; for it Aquila translated merchants. The Holy Spirit therefore asks, or rather by the question affirms, that the Lord has purposed these things against the princes of Tyre, whose whole industry is to seek wealth by trading. And as in the Gospel we read of dealers in pearls (Matt 13), who, having sold all, long to buy one pearl, and who surely are to be called renowned merchants, not of earth but of heaven, so, on the contrary, the merchants of Tyre, that is, of tribulation and distress, are to be called the renowned of the earth, because whatever they do looks to the earth; and princes of Canaan, which means tossed about and shaken. For they do not set their feet upon the rock, nor can it be said of them, The rock is a refuge for the hedgehogs (Ps 39 [40]; 103 [104]:18), or for the hares; but rather they endure what the righteous man almost suffered: But my feet were almost moved, my steps had well nigh slipped (Ps 72 [73]:2).

Third, wonder, setting out first the question of the wonderer: who knew this one crowned, as though queen of other cities; whose merchants were princes, because of their excessive luxuries: how are you fallen, that dwell in the sea, renowned city that was strong in the sea, with your inhabitants? (Ezek 26:17).

The Lord of hosts has devised this, to pull down the pride of all glory, and to bring into ignominy all the renowned of the earth. Because above, in the manner of one asking, he had said: Who has devised this against Tyre, once crowned?, now he himself answers: It is not that the threads of the fates have been spun thus, as fools think; it is not that the wheel of fortune has run; but it has been accomplished by the judgment of God and by his will, who resists the proud and gives grace to the humble (Jas 4); and he reminds the arrogant of their condition, so that through misery they may learn the power of him whose clemency they had refused to feel through his benefits.

The Lord of hosts, then, purposed this counsel: to dissolve the most wicked bonds of the merchants, or rather to scatter the compacted injury through which all who are subject to Tyre grow proud. And as for what he added, and to dishonour all that is glorious upon the earth, the Lord is not the author of dishonour, but shows to be shameful what lies open to shame of itself. This indeed we read in Leviticus also concerning the Priests: With defilement he has defiled him (Lev 21), the priest, no doubt: not that he is the author of the defilement, but that he shows him to be defiled who formerly seemed clean to very many.

And he adds the response: the Lord of hosts has designed it, to pull down the pride of all glory: scatter the proud in your indignation, and behold every arrogant man, and humble him (Job 40:6).

Pass through your land like a river, daughter of the sea: there is no girdle for you any more. As, he says, a river, or, as the Hebrew has it more expressively, a stream, for it is called IOR (יאר), is easily crossed on foot, so you too, led into captivity, will pass through your land, O daughter of the sea, either because you are an island, or because it was written of you above: The sea has spoken, the strength of the sea: I have not travailed, and I have not brought forth. And what sense his next words have, there is no girdle for you any more, Symmachus teaches more openly: you will no longer be able to resist, that is, you will not have the strength, nor your loins girded for fighting, so as to be able to go out against your adversaries.

Work your land; for ships no longer come from Carthage, and your hand no longer prevails, which provokes kings on the sea. The edition of the Seventy differs greatly in this place from the other translators and from the Hebrew itself; but let us pursue our purpose. Above he had said: Go to Carthage; howl, you who dwell in the isle. Now he says the opposite: since ships no longer come from Carthage, work your land. For it profited Tyre that the foreign ships perished, so that she is compelled to work her own land, of which it is said in the Proverbs: He who works his land shall be filled with bread (Prov 12:11): so that she may live not from the uncertain hazard of the waves and of shipwrecks, but from the fruits of her own work, of which it is sung in the psalms to the righteous man: You shall eat the labours of your hands (Ps 127 [128]:2). It is written in Hosea that the ways of the harlot were hedged by the Lord with thorns, so that she could not follow her lovers, in order that, driven by this necessity, she might return to her first husband. And this we often observe in the affairs of the world too: many who, through prosperity and abundance of all things, could not perceive the Lord, come to understand him through want, and are converted to the works of righteousness, after their hand no longer prevails to enjoy the felicity of this world, the hand which formerly provoked kings on the sea, or according to Symmachus, troubled them; kings whose heart is in the hand of God. And would that we too, scorning the trade of this sea, might work our land, and by no means wait for the ships of Carthage, or the ships of Tyre which used to go to Carthage, lest we be made subject to the power of the dragon who rules in the sea! But let us fix a steady step upon the land, or rather, hastening to heavenly things, let us work our land, so that, sowing here, we may reap there. Our hand too, which formerly was busied with the affairs of the world, and through power and felicity could move even kings, that is, the saints, from their standing, let it become feeble in the affairs of the sea, so that it may be strong in the work of its own land.

Pass your land. Here he exhorts them to flee quickly. And first, he sets out the exhortation: pass your land as a river, which is crossed quickly by boat: furnish yourself to go into exile, you daughter inhabitant of Egypt (Jer 46:19). Second, he assigns the reason on their own part: you have a girdle, that is, strength, no more: behold I have made you small among the nations (Obad 1:2). Otherwise, on the part of God: he stretched out his hand over the sea, above: the Lord shall lay waste the tongue of the sea of Egypt (Isa 11:15).

He has stretched out his hand over the sea, he has troubled kingdoms. Who stretched out his hand? From the very tenor of the discourse there is no doubt that it is God, of whom he said above: The Lord of hosts has devised this, to pull down the pride of all glory. He stretched out his hand, then, over all the seas, signifying the world and the earth, and troubled all the nations, among which you too, O Tyre, were troubled; or else over the sea, in which you are properly situated.

The Lord has given command against Canaan, to crush its strong ones. He shows what the sea is over which the Lord stretched out his hand, saying: He has given command against Canaan. For Tyre was founded in the land of Canaan. Read the Scriptures, and especially the Gospel (Mark 7), where the Syrophoenician woman, pleading for her daughter, comes out of the land of Canaan, and is called a Canaanite woman. And at the same time, because he had said: He has stretched out his hand, lest you should believe that the Lord works with limbs and by bodily function, he added, he has given command, so that for God to have done is to have commanded.

The Lord Sabaoth has commanded concerning Canaan to destroy its strength, and they shall say: You shall no more do injury and iniquity to the virgin daughter of Sidon. That Tyre and Sidon are in the land of Canaan we have shown above also, setting forth the testimony of the Gospel, in which we read that the Canaanite woman, or Syrophoenician, came out of the borders of Tyre and Sidon and met the Lord the Savior. Now every soul that is set amid the waves of the world and is carried about by every wind of doctrine is to be called Canaan, which means as it were a tossing or a shaking. Hence it is said also to the adulterous old man: Seed of Canaan and not of Judah, beauty has deceived you (Dan 13). It profits Tyre and its distresses, then, that the Canaanite strength should perish, so that it may be said to its inhabitants that they can no longer do injuries and oppress by iniquity the virgin daughter of Sidon. Whoever is taken by the devil in the turmoil of various vices, and is delivered over to the outrages of shame, so as to pollute the body with pleasures and foulness, he is the son or daughter of Sidon. And this is to be known: that Sabaoth is not found in the Hebrew, and on the contrary virgin has been added from the Hebrew.

The Lord has given a charge. Here he threatens destruction. And first, the scourge of persecution; second, he foretells the mourning of compassion: howl (Isa 23:14); third, he designates the time of destruction: and it shall come to pass in that day (Isa 23:15). Concerning the first, he does three things. First, setting out divine indignation, the precept: the Lord has given a charge, to Nabuchodonosor, against Chanaan, in which Tyre is located: the Lord said to me: go up to this land, and destroy it (2 Kgs 18:25).

And he said: You will no more glory, suffering calumny, O virgin daughter of Sidon; rise, cross over to Cethim: there too there will be no rest for you. God, who devised to pull down the pride of all glory, who gave command against Canaan to crush its strong ones, himself says: You will by no means glory any longer, nor trust in your own power. O virgin daughter of Sidon, that is, colony of the Sidonians, you will indeed flee in ships to the islands of the West, or to Cyprus, and the other lands of Macedonia and Greece; but there too, with God against you, you will not be able to find rest. Besides, everyone who is a wanderer and a stranger in the world, and of uncertain abode, is always in straits, continually in grief.

If you go to the Kittim, not even there shall there be rest for you; and if to the land of the Chaldeans, it too has been laid waste by the Assyrians. Siim founded it; they set up its ramparts, they raised its tower: its wall has fallen. What follows has been added from the edition of Theodotion under asterisks: Siim founded it; they set up its ramparts; they raised its tower; and joined without asterisks: its wall has fallen. The Kittim are interpreted a stroke consummated or perfect; the Chaldeans in this place, as it were breasts; the Assyrians, reproving. The etymology of Siim we too have not been able to find, and the other translators rendered it by the very name with which it is written among the Hebrews. It is said, therefore, to Tyre, that although she strive to go to the Kittim and avoid the stroke of her distresses, she cannot find perfect rest even there. And again, if she desires to go to the Chaldeans and enjoy their fertility and the abundance of all things, she will find them too desolate, the Assyrians reproving their barrenness; just as the Apostle also delivered sinners to Satan (1 Tim 1), that they might learn not to blaspheme: they are delivered to the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved. And Siim laid the foundations of the Chaldeans, by whom I understand the most wicked demons, who raised both the ramparts and the proudest towers of the Chaldean city against the knowledge of the Lord. But all their building has fallen into ruins; for there follows, its wall has fallen. For unless the Lord builds the house, they have laboured in vain who build it (Ps 126 [127]:1). We often see in the world some men pass from one pursuit to another: for example, those who have fared badly in soldiering pass over to trade; and again advocates take up the arms of warriors. They change their occupation in order to change their misfortune; and nonetheless, by the dispensation of God, for those whom he deigns to save everything turns out contrary to their striving, so that through want and miseries they are compelled to have confidence not in themselves but in their Creator.

And the intended end: and he said: you shall glory no more, O virgin daughter of Sidon, who sustain calumny, accused of pride: let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, and let not the rich man glory in his riches (Jer 9:23); and he excludes any remedy: arise and sail over to Cethim, there also you shall have no rest: neither shall you be quiet, even in those nations, nor shall there be any rest for the sole of your foot (Deut 28:65).

Behold the land of the Chaldeans, such a people there was not: Assyria founded it for captivity; they carried away its mighty men, they undermined its houses, they made it a ruin. Howl, you ships of the sea, for your strength has been laid waste. Because he had said above: Its own feet will lead it far away to sojourn abroad; and again, Pass through your land like a river; and because the people of Tyre was twofold, those who had fled and crossed over to Cethim, and those who had remained in the city, he speaks to both. Of those who had fled he said above: Rise, cross over to Cethim, there too there will be no rest for you. Of those who had remained and were led into captivity: Behold, he says, the inhabitants of the land of the Chaldeans, whose power no peoples had before, and which was founded by the Assyrian, have carried away the mighty men of Tyre. They undermined not only the walls but all the dwellings of the city, and made it a ruin. Since, then, some have fled and others have been captured, howl, you ships, whether of the sea or of Carthage; for your mart and your colony has been destroyed. And at the same time consider how he has praised the Chaldeans. He did not say, such a people will not be hereafter: for the kingdom of the Romans is more powerful and harsher; but, there was not before. He who denied what went before conceded what follows.

Second, he sets out the strength of the enemy: behold the land of the Chaldeans, there was not such a people, before them; the Assyrians, or Nabuchodonosor, founded it: is not this Babylon, which I have built? (Dan 4:27).

Third, he sets out the destruction as to the subjugation of men: they have led away the strong ones thereof into captivity, above: their strong ones, and their people, and their high and glorious ones shall go down into it (Isa 5:14); as to the destruction of houses: they have destroyed the houses, above: it shall be as a ruinous heap of stones (Isa 17:1).

"Howl," he says—he repeats it—"O you ships of Carthage, for your strength is laid waste. And it shall come to pass in that day, Tyre shall be abandoned;" and below, "but after seventy years, Tyre shall be as the song of a harlot." Behold what words the prophet employs, and how he does not avoid the baseness of words of this kind. We ourselves sometimes avoid them, not because our tongue is more chaste than theirs, but our authority inferior. For very great is the force of words in the vivid exposition of such things, so that they who do not blush at their sins blush at least at the names of their sins. "Tyre shall be," he says, "as the song of a harlot." Beware, lest, when someone sees those dances being performed, and unseemly words being sung, he says, "Behold, Tyre has become the song of a harlot."

Furthermore, the Hebrews claim that Tarshish generally represents the sea, as in the psalms: "With a violent wind, you will destroy the ships of Tarshish," that is, the sea, and in Isaiah: "Wail, ships of Tarshish." I recall speaking about this several years ago in a letter to Marcella. The prophet, therefore, was not seeking to flee to a specific place, but he was hastening to continue toward wherever it was the sea would take him. Indeed, a terrified fugitive is rightly more interested in seizing the first opportunity to sail than he is in selecting a place of refuge. This also we are able to say: he who thought that "God is known in Judea" only and that "his name is great in Israel" only, once he felt him in the waves of the sea, confessed and said, "I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord of heaven who made the sea and the dry land." But if he made the sea and the dry land, how can you who abandoned the dry land think it possible to avoid the Creator of the sea in the midst of the sea? At the same time, the salvation and conversion of the sailors taught him that the great multitude at Nineveh could also be saved by confessing like he did.We are able to say of our Lord and Savior that he left his native homeland, assumed flesh and, in a manner of speaking, fled from heaven and came to Tarshish. That is, [he came] to the sea of this world, about which it is said elsewhere: "This is the sea, great and vast, where there are creatures without number and animals both small and large. Ships navigate there with the dragon whom you formed to play in it."

Howl, you ships of Carthage, for your strength has perished. The ships of Carthage, that is, of Tharsis, are bidden to howl; for they have not, as above, perished or shall not come, but their strength has perished. For Tharsis, according to another interpretation, is rendered into our tongue consummation of six, or of gladness. Now we read that this world was made in six days, and according to the traditions of the Church it will afterwards be consummated. All the goods of this world, then, and the whole labour of mortals, are compared to the uncertain course of ships, because they will quickly perish, and all the strength of those who sail will be dissolved. Hence it is written in Solomon also: The wise man has gone up to strong cities, and has destroyed their fortifications (Prov 21:22). For whatever is composed by the art of the heretics, of worldly wisdom, and of opposing doctrines, the churchman destroys, and teaches that it is subject to his feet.

Howl. Here he sets out the mourning (Ezek 27:14).

This Tyre also lay waste seventy years like Jerusalem, which sat in desolation seventy years.

And it will come to pass in that day, you will be in oblivion, O Tyre, for seventy years, like the days of one king. From this place to the end of this prophecy prosperous things are announced to Tyre: that it ought to repent; that it is to be built again; that the overthrow of Tyre is to last only seventy years, the years during which the temple of God too was desolate: so that the city that mocked at the ruins of another should also match the time of that one's ruins. The seventy years of one king many think to be said of Nebuchadnezzar, the years during which the kingdom of the Assyrian nation continued in Jerusalem. Others think it is said in general: that he who has had a long time of reigning cannot go beyond seventy years.

And it shall come to pass in that day that Tyre shall be forsaken seventy years, as the time of one king, as the time of a man. And after seventy years Tyre shall be as the song of a harlot. Take a harp, go about, harlot city given over to forgetfulness. Play well on the harp, sing much, that you may be remembered. And after seventy years God will visit Tyre, and she shall be restored again to her former state; and her trade shall be with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth. And her trade and her hire shall be holy to the Lord; but it shall not be gathered for themselves, but for those who dwell before the Lord. All her trade, to eat and drink and be filled in common store, a memorial before the Lord. What is said, a memorial before the Lord, and upon the face of the earth, and as the time of a man, is not found in the Hebrew, but has been added in the Greek. Now Tyre, once straitened, is let go for seventy years, so that, the time of desolation fulfilled, she may turn her once harlot's song into the praises of God, and, taking up the harp, may have all its strings sounding in concord; so that, after she has played well in concord and sung much, there may be a remembrance before God of her who on account of fornication had been given over to forgetfulness; and that she may be restored to her former state, and have the riches of the kingdoms of the whole world, and that the wages of her labour may by no means be gathered for the Tyrians, but for those who dwell in the sight of the Lord, and that they may eat and drink and be filled with all the good things which have been brought together by the labour of all for the gladness of the banquet. The divine word exhorts Sidon and Tyre to repentance, and promises that her labours and wages are to be sanctified to the Lord. Who among sinners would not have hope of salvation, if only he sings well, and all the strings of the virtues, which once had been slackened, are tuned to the praises of the Lord? We read in Psalm 44 (45), which pertains especially to the union of the bridegroom and the bride, that is, to God the Savior and to the mysteries of the Church, that it is said among other things: The daughters of Tyre with gifts, the rich among the people shall entreat your face (Ps 44 [45]:13). And the bridegroom himself speaks again to the Tyrian bride: Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline your ear; and forget your people and your father's house, for the king shall desire your beauty (ibid. 11, 12). Hence in the description of her beauty too it is added: The queen stood at your right hand, in a vesture of gold, surrounded with variety (ibid. 10). And again: All the glory of the king's daughter is within (ibid. 14). And if the king desired the beauty of the penitent Tyrian woman, who has the ornaments of various virtues, how much more shall her hire and her trade belong not to those who remain in Tyre but to those who dwell in the sight of the Lord! These, after they have done penance, shall hear from the Lord the Savior: Eat, my friends, and drink, and be inebriated, my dearly beloved (Song 5:1). And what it is to eat and drink and be filled with the common store of all the virtues, the faithful reader understands. That the temple was desolate for seventy years Jeremiah (Jer 29), Daniel (Dan 9) and Zechariah (Zech 7) teach. And in Ezekiel (Ezek 16) we read of Sodom that it shall be restored to its former state, and of Egypt that, after the desolation of the land of Egypt and the drying up of the seven rivers, it shall recover its old fertility. Now the number seven and seventy, which is made up either of single days or of seven decades, signifies a perfect and consummated repentance; so that Tyre rightly, the time of repentance fulfilled, returns to her former state. Of this harlot, I think, that saying too in the Proverbs of Solomon is signified in mystical speech: Do not heed a most wicked woman; for honey drips from the lips of a harlot woman, which for a short while fattens your throat, but afterwards you will find her more bitter than gall (Prov 5:2-4). For she looks out through the window of her house into the streets (Matt 7), because wide and spacious is the way that leads to death; and whatever foolish young man she sees (for the wise she does not dare to tempt) passing by the corners, those who have lost the straight line, she speaks to him in the darkness and in the gloom, and under the appearance of pleasures leads him like a victim to death. If she is converted, and sings well, and fulfils the time of years of perfect repentance, she shall eat and drink and be filled. Let Novatian hear this, and be silent.

And it shall come to pass. Here he designates the time: seventy years, according to the days of one king, who rarely even lives so long, below: the Lord has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me (Isa 49:14).

But after seventy years. Here he promises liberation. And first, he sets out the song of the liberated, setting out the time of singing: after seventy years; as the song of a harlot, who, cast aside by a man, throws herself about and moves the hearts of others to mercy through songs in which she remembers her former dignity.

But after seventy years it will be for Tyre like the song of a harlot. Take a harp, go about the city, harlot given over to oblivion; sing well, repeat the song, that you may be remembered. Because you have committed fornication with very many nations, and your former lovers have despised you, desolate and naked and filthy with the squalor of captivity, take up the harp now, redouble your songs, go about the city, lament your former brothel, and wash away with tears the traces of your old error, so that you may call forth the mercy of God upon you.

And he sets out the song as to the instrument: take a harp; as to the place: about the city; as to the manner: sing well; as to the number, sing many a song. He also sets out the fruit: that you mayst be remembered: it is commonly said: if a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and marry another man, shall he return to her any more? (Jer 3:1).

Note on the words, take a harp (Isa 23:16), that the harp signifies an upright life: first, as the mortification of the flesh, because of the material of the strings: I will sing to you with the harp, you Holy One of Israel (Ps 70[71]:22); second, as to the connection of the virtues, because of the harmony of the song, above: my bowels shall sound like a harp for Moab (Isa 16:11); third, as to the sweetness of good works, because of the joy of the listener: they take the timbrel, and the harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ (Job 21:12).

Note also on the words, go about the city (Isa 23:16), that man ought to go about the city: first, of his own conscience, by reflecting on his sins: the mourners shall go round about in the street before the silver cord be broken (Eccl 12:5–6); second, of the Church militant, by imitating the example of the just: surround Zion, and encompass her (Ps 47:13[48:12]); third, of our heavenly homeland, by considering the reward of the saints: I will rise, and will go about the city (Song 3:2).

Note also on the words, sing well (Isa 23:16), that man ought to sing well: first, cheerfully: to our God be joyful praise (Ps 146[147]:1); second, attentively: I will sing with the spirit, I will sing also with the understanding (1 Cor 14:15); third, devoutly: and the people offered victims, and praises with a devout mind (2 Chr 29:31).

Note also on the words, sing many a song (Isa 23:16), that we ought to sing many songs: first, because of his greatness: glorify the Lord as much as ever you can, for he will yet far exceed, and his magnificence is wonderful (Sir 43:32[30]); second, because of the multitude of inward goods, make melody, rejoice and sing (Ps 97[98]:4); third, because of the abundance of our sins: seven times a day I have given praise to you . . . Lord God, destroy me not (Ps 118[119]:164).

Now we see that Tyre was inhabited and was opulent after it had "wandered seventy years," and after it had received the reward of its prostitutions.

And it will come to pass after seventy years, the Lord will visit Tyre, and will bring it back to its wages, and again it will commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the earth upon the face of the earth. That all these things were fulfilled according to the history is shown by the concordant writings of the Greeks and Phoenicians: that after seventy years it was restored and returned to its former power, and became the mart of all the nations; and these, I think, are called fornications: so that, as he who commits fornication enters the brothel and pays the wage of debauchery, so the trader, flocking in from the whole world, has filled up the beauty of the city as of a harlot.

Second, he promises the benefit of a liberator: and it shall come to pass after seventy years; that the Lord will visit Tyre, and will bring her back again to her traffic: and she shall commit fornication again, that is, she shall trade: I will glorify them (Jer 30:19).

On the contrary: Ezekiel 27:36 says of Tyre, you are brought to nothing, and you shall never be any more; the Gloss there says, that is, in memory, which is the life of one man, which is seventy years; the days of our years in them are threescore and ten years (Ps 89[90]:10).

To seek out the exact form of the reading, I gave my attention to the translation of Aquila, which says, "And it will happen that its commerce and wages are consecrated to the Lord." Thus the Hebrew has, precisely, "commerce and wages" without the articles, not, according to the Septuagint, "the commerce and the wages," by which it appears to mean all the commerce and all the wages. According to Aquila, "Its commerce and wages are consecrated to the Lord." Not its whole commerce or its whole wages, but a part of the commerce and a part of the wages are consecrated to the Lord. And this is what has been fulfilled in our day. For the church of God is established in the city of Tyre, as indeed in the rest of the nations, and many of the wages in it and what is stored up for business are offered to the church and consecrated to the Lord. The things that people bring, they offer in piety, not for themselves in order to enjoy the gifts offered to God but "for those who dwell before the Lord." (Namely, [these gifts are] for those who serve at the altar, "for the Lord had enjoined that those who preach the gospel should live by the gospel" and "those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings.")

And its merchandise and its wages will be sanctified to the Lord: they will not be hidden away nor laid up. For its merchandise will be for those who dwell before the Lord, that they may eat to the full and be clothed even to old age. We find that these things have not yet been done according to the history; unless perhaps it is to be thought that after the building of Jerusalem and the restoration of Tyre the cities were friendly to each other, and Tyre often sent gifts to the temple of God: as we read in Ezra too (Neh 13:16), that he drove off the Tyrians who were selling fish on the sabbath, and did not allow them to enter the city: and from this one item of trade one must judge of the rest as well. The Jews put off their vain hopes into the future, declaring that these things are to be fulfilled after the Antichrist, in the thousand years. Nor is it surprising if those invent such things who, having spurned the truth of Christ, are to receive the Antichrist, the instrument of the devil, since even judaizing Christians contend that these things were said of the blessedness of the thousand years. But I, just as in the vision of Babylon I understand the time of the consummation under the type of its overthrow, and in Egypt refer to the time of Christ the altar of the Lord set up when the idols were destroyed, and in the vision of Moab recognize the throne of the Savior set up in its land, and in the visions of Damascus and all the others have no doubt that they are mysteries of our own times, so also in the vision of Tyre, which is the last, I interpret it of the time of Christian felicity: that after it was built and recovered its former state, and every merchant entered its harbor according to the old custom, their merchandise and their labor too are dedicated to the Lord. Let us behold the Churches of Christ built in Tyre; let us consider the wealth of all, that it is not laid up nor treasured, but given to those who dwell before the Lord, who, serving the altar, partake of the altar (1 Cor 9). And the Tyrians minister, not for riches, nor for heaping up the wealth of the priests, but for supplying the necessities of life: so that, according to the Apostle, having food and clothing, we may be content with these (1 Tim 6). And note that he did not say that the merchandise and wages of Tyre sanctified to the Lord are to be given to those who dwell in Jerusalem, as the Jews think, but to those who are before the Lord, who serve him. For so too the Lord has ordained, that those who preach the Gospel should live by the Gospel (1 Cor 9). And to serve the Lord and to dwell before him is a matter not of place but of merit.

Third, he sets out the fruit of liberation: and her merchandise and her hire shall be, below: for brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver (Isa 60:17).