Bible Strands
Isaiah 23:2
Be silent, O dwellers of the coastland, you merchants of Sidon, whose traders have crossed the sea.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The prophet addresses the coastal inhabitants and Sidonian merchants immediately after declaring Tyre’s devastation and the arrival of news from Cyprus. The command targets maritime traders whose commercial networks depend on the sea.
The words — דֹּ֖מּוּ (Do.mu) means "be silent," commanding the cessation of speech or activity. עֹבֵ֥ר ('o.Ver) denotes "passed over," describing the traders who cross the sea for commerce.
The thread — This command to silence appears in Isaiah 41:1 toward the islands, Isaiah 47:5 toward the Daughter of Babylon, and Psalms 46:10 as a call to recognize divine sovereignty. Each instance pairs silence with impending judgment or the exaltation of God over the nations.
Why it lands — The text demands the cessation of commercial boasting and anxious planning in the face of divine judgment. It requires readers to acknowledge that human trade networks are subordinate to God's sovereign purposes.
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
Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle; thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 47:5 “Sit in silence and go into darkness, O Daughter of the Chaldeans. For you will no longer be called the queen of kingdoms.
- Psalms 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted over the earth.”
- Isaiah 41:1 “Be silent before Me, O islands, and let the peoples renew their strength. Let them come forward and testify; let us together draw near for judgment.
- Ezekiel 27:3 Tell Tyre, who dwells at the gateway to the sea, merchant of the peoples on many coasts, that this is what the Lord GOD says: You have said, O Tyre, ‘I am perfect in beauty.’
- Ezekiel 27:8 The men of Sidon and Arvad were your oarsmen. Your men of skill, O Tyre, were there as your captains.
- Ezekiel 28:2 “Son of man, tell the ruler of Tyre that this is what the Lord GOD says: Your heart is proud, and you have said, ‘I am a god; I sit in the seat of gods in the heart of the sea.’ Yet you are a man and not a god, though you have regarded your heart as that of a god.
- Habakkuk 2:20 But the LORD is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him.