Discovery BoxIsaiah 18:3 
Context18:3 All you who live in the world,
who reside on the earth,
you will see a signal flag raised on the mountains;
you will hear a trumpet being blown.
Isaiah 23:4
Context23:4 Be ashamed, O Sidon,
for the sea 1 says this, O fortress of the sea:
“I have not gone into labor
or given birth;
I have not raised young men
or brought up young women.” 2
Isaiah 49:21
Context49:21 Then you will think to yourself, 3
‘Who bore these children for me?
I was bereaved and barren,
dismissed and divorced. 4
Who raised these children?
Look, I was left all alone;
where did these children come from?’”
Isaiah 51:18
Context51:18 There was no one to lead her
among all the children she bore;
there was no one to take her by the hand
among all the children she raised.
1 tn J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 1:430-31) sees here a reference to Yam, the Canaanite god of the sea. He interprets the phrase מָעוֹז הַיָּם (ma’oz hayyam, “fortress of the sea”) as a title of Yam, translating “Mighty One of the Sea.” A more traditional view is that the phrase refers to Sidon.
2 tn Or “virgins” (KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB).
sn The sea is personified here as a lamenting childless woman. The foreboding language anticipates the following announcement of Tyre’s demise, viewed here as a child of the sea, as it were.
3 tn Heb “and you will say in your heart.”
4 tn Or “exiled and thrust away”; NIV “exiled and rejected.”
