Isaiah 23:4
ContextNETBible | 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 |
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NET © Notes |
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. |