Bible Strands
Isaiah 23:10
Cultivate your land like the Nile, O Daughter of Tarshish; there is no longer a harbor.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The prophet addresses the "Daughter of Tarshish," a symbolic designation for a wealthy maritime nation, immediately after declaring that the LORD of Hosts has deliberately planned to strip its glory and disgrace its renowned leaders. The message is delivered as a pronouncement of impending commercial collapse.
The words — The imperative עִבְרִי ('ivri) literally means "pass over" or "go through," directed toward the אַרְצֵךְ ('ar'tzekh), or "your land." The closing phrase אֵין מֵזַח עוֹד ('ein mezaḥ 'od) states that "there is no longer a restraint" or safe harbor.
The thread — The dismantling of human maritime power and the removal of security runs into Isaiah 23:11, where the LORD stretches His hand over the sea to make kingdoms tremble. It parallels the pattern of divine intervention in Job 12:21, where God pours out contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty.
Why it lands — The text demands acknowledgment that economic infrastructure and trade routes are not autonomous but subject to sovereign judgment. It requires the reader to accept that commercial security can be abruptly nullified when divine purposes override human systems.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Pass through thy land as a river, O daughter of Tarshish: there is no more strength.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 28:20 Immediately Saul fell flat on the ground, terrified by the words of Samuel. And his strength was gone, because he had not eaten anything all that day and night.
- Job 12:21 He pours out contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty.
- Psalms 18:32 It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way clear.
- Isaiah 23:14 Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for your harbor has been destroyed!
- Lamentations 1:6 All the splendor has departed from the Daughter of Zion. Her princes are like deer that find no pasture; they lack the strength to flee in the face of the hunter.
- Haggai 2:22 I will overturn royal thrones and destroy the power of the kingdoms of the nations. I will overturn chariots and their riders; horses and their riders will fall, each by the sword of his brother.
- Romans 5:6 For at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.