Bible Strands
Isaiah 23:11
The LORD has stretched out His hand over the sea; He has made kingdoms tremble. He has given a command that the strongholds of Canaan be destroyed.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Yahweh speaks through the prophet Isaiah against the maritime trading powers of the Mediterranean coast, specifically addressing the decline of Tarshish and Sidon. This oracle pronounces divine intervention over their trade routes and political stability.
The words — נָטָה (na.Tah) means he has stretched out, describing Yahweh’s direct intervention. הִרְגִּיז (hir.Giz) means he has made tremble, indicating the forced shaking of kingdoms under his authority.
The thread — The motif of stretching out a hand over waters appears in Exodus 14:21 during the Red Sea crossing. References to Canaan appear in Genesis 9:25, which pronounces a curse on Canaan himself, not on his strongholds, while Zechariah 9:3 parallels the theme of fortified coastal cities facing judgment.
Why it lands — The text states that Yahweh actively disrupts the political and economic structures of coastal nations to demonstrate his sovereignty. It asks the reader to recognize that human trade networks and fortified cities are subject to divine command, not autonomous power.
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
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.
Cross-references
- Zechariah 9:3 Tyre has built herself a fortress; she has heaped up silver like dust, and gold like the dirt of the streets.
- Exodus 14:21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove back the sea with a strong east wind that turned it into dry land. So the waters were divided,
- Genesis 9:25 he said, “Cursed be Canaan! A servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”
- Genesis 10:15 And Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites,
- Exodus 15:8 At the blast of Your nostrils the waters piled up; like a wall the currents stood firm; the depths congealed in the heart of the sea.
- Psalms 46:6 Nations rage, kingdoms crumble; the earth melts when He lifts His voice.
- Psalms 71:3 Be my rock of refuge, where I can always go. Give the command to save me, for You are my rock and my fortress.
- Isaiah 2:19 Men will flee to caves in the rocks and holes in the ground, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.
- Isaiah 10:6 I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets.
- Isaiah 14:16 Those who see you will stare; they will ponder your fate: “Is this the man who shook the earth and made the kingdoms tremble,