Bible Strands
Isaiah 23:17
And at the end of seventy years, the LORD will restore Tyre. Then she will return to hire as a prostitute and sell herself to all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The prophet delivers this oracle against Tyre, shifting from the city’s desolation in verse 16 to a future restoration after a fixed period. The message addresses the commercial power of Tyre and the nations, framing its history under divine sovereignty.
The words — The Hebrew verb יִפְקֹד (yif.Kod) literally means "he will visit" and here denotes the Lord’s active intervention to restore Tyre after seventy years (מִ/קֵּץ שִׁבְעִים שָׁנָה). This word carries the sense of a decisive, timed reckoning rather than mere observation.
The thread — The imagery of Tyre as a prostitute recurs in Nahum 3:4 and Revelation 19:2, where harlotry symbolizes idolatrous alliances and economic exploitation that betray nations. Ezekiel 27:6 provides the commercial backdrop for Tyre’s wealth, which Isaiah 23:18 clarifies will ultimately be consecrated to the Lord.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that human commerce and political power operate only within the timeframe and boundaries set by God. It requires readers to see that even corrupted wealth will ultimately be redirected to sustain those who live before the Lord.
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
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.
Cross-references
- Nahum 3:4 because of the many harlotries of the harlot, the seductive mistress of sorcery, who betrays nations by her prostitution and clans by her witchcraft.
- Ezekiel 27:6 Of oaks from Bashan they made your oars; of wood from the coasts of Cyprus they made your deck, inlaid with ivory.
- Revelation 19:2 For His judgments are true and just. He has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality. He has avenged the blood of His servants that was poured out by her hand.”
- Deuteronomy 23:18 You must not bring the wages of a prostitute, whether female or male, into the house of the LORD your God to fulfill any vow, because both are detestable to the LORD your God.
- Jeremiah 29:10 For this is what the LORD says: “When Babylon’s seventy years are complete, I will attend to you and confirm My promise to restore you to this place.
- Ezekiel 16:26 You prostituted yourself with your lustful neighbors, the Egyptians, and increased your promiscuity to provoke Me to anger.
- Ezekiel 16:31 But when you built your mounds at the head of every street and made your lofty shrines in every public square, you were not even like a prostitute, because you scorned payment.
- Ezekiel 22:13 Now look, I strike My hands together against your unjust gain and against the blood you have shed in your midst.
- Hosea 12:7 A merchant loves to defraud with dishonest scales in his hands.
- Micah 1:7 All her carved images will be smashed to pieces; all her wages will be burned in the fire, and I will destroy all her idols. Since she collected the wages of a prostitute, they will be used again on a prostitute.