Verse Lens · Context pointer
Isaiah 23:1 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 1. 1The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
The oracle concerning Zion and the nations states or reports “The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish” at Isaiah 23:1 as a specific part of “Tyre's Trade Network Laments Its Fall.”
Read It With
- Isaiah 23:1–14
Read Isaiah 23:1 with 23:1–14. By itself, “The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish” can be detached from the speaker, addressee, historical horizon, poetic movement, or outcome that gives it force. The complete unit establishes: Ships, merchants, Sidon, Egypt, Tarshish, and the sea react as the proud commercial city loses harbor, beauty, and imperial reach.
Why It Needs Context
Isaiah 23:1–14 gives Isaiah 23:1 its literary owner and outcome. The oracle concerning Zion and the nations states or reports “The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish” at Isaiah 23:1 as a specific part of “Tyre's Trade Network Laments Its Fall.” Application waits until that movement is understood.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Isaiah 23:1–14 — Tyre's Trade Network Laments Its FallSources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Isaiah 23:1–14, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Isaiah
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology at the exact unit, without treating morphology as apparatus, lexicon, composition history, or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Isa.xml, OSIS 23:1–14 with Hebrew/KJV versification difference checked
Open the fixed Hebrew Isaiah file ↗