Bible Strands
Isaiah 23:8
Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose traders are princes, whose merchants are renowned on the earth?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The prophet addresses Judah regarding the impending judgment on Phoenicia’s commercial hub, Tyre. The oracle follows a question about the city’s ancient origins and precedes the declaration that the LORD of Hosts orchestrated its downfall.
The words — The Hebrew verb יָעַץ (ya.'Atz) means “to plan or counsel,” and the noun הַמַּעֲטִירָה (ha.ma.'a.ti.Rah) translates literally as “the crown-bestower.” The text poses a rhetorical question to identify the architect of Tyre’s coming destruction.
The thread — The theme of divine sovereignty over human pride appears in Isaiah 10:8, where Assyrian commanders claim their own authority, and in Deuteronomy 29:24, where nations question God’s anger against a land. Isaiah 36:9 similarly contrasts human reliance on military power with divine judgment.
Why it lands — The passage demands recognition that human commerce and political power remain subject to divine decree. It requires the reader to abandon reliance on earthly prestige and acknowledge God’s ultimate authority over history.
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
Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth?
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 29:24 So all the nations will ask, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?’
- Isaiah 10:8 “Are not all my commanders kings?” he says.
- Isaiah 36:9 For how can you repel a single officer among the least of my master’s servants when you depend on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
- Jeremiah 50:44 Behold, one will come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered pasture. For in an instant I will chase Babylon from her land. Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this? For who is like Me, and who can challenge Me? What shepherd can stand against Me?”
- 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.
- Ezekiel 28:12 “Son of man, take up a lament for the king of Tyre and tell him that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
- Revelation 18:8 Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and grief and famine—and she will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”