Isaiah 23:11 “The LORD has stretched out His hand over the sea; He has made kingdoms…”

Isaiah 23:11

The LORD has stretched out His hand over the sea; He has made kingdoms tremble. He has given a command that the strongholds of Canaan be destroyed.

Berean Standard Bible

Other translations

King James Version

He stretched out his hand over the sea, he shook the kingdoms: the LORD hath given a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strong holds thereof.

World English Bible

He has stretched out his hand over the sea. He has shaken the kingdoms. The LORD has ordered the destruction of Canaan’s strongholds.

American Standard Version

He hath stretched out his hand over the sea, he hath shaken the kingdoms: Jehovah hath given commandment concerning Canaan, to destroy the strongholds thereof.

Geneva Bible 1599

He stretched out his hand vpon the sea: he shooke the kingdomes: the Lord hath giuen a commandement concerning the place of marchandise, to destroy the power thereof.

Darby Translation

He hath stretched out his hand over the sea, he shaketh the kingdoms. Jehovah hath given a commandment concerning Canaan, to destroy the strongholds thereof,

Young's Literal Translation

His hand He hath stretched out over the sea, He hath caused kingdoms to tremble, Jehovah hath charged concerning the merchant one, To destroy her strong places.

Bible in Basic English

His hand is stretched out over the sea, the kingdoms are shaking: the Lord has given orders about Canaan, to make waste its strong places.

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Cross references

“stretched”

Isaiah 2:19 Exodus 15:8–10 Psalm 46:6 Ezekiel 26:10 Ezekiel 26:15–19 Ezekiel 31:16

Isaiah 2:19 · BSB

Men will flee to caves in the rocks and holes in the ground, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.

Exodus 15:8–10 · BSB

At the blast of Your nostrils the waters piled up; like a wall the currents stood firm; the depths congealed in the heart of the sea.

Psalm 46:6 · BSB

Nations rage, kingdoms crumble; the earth melts when He lifts His voice.

Ezekiel 26:10 · BSB

His multitude of horses will cover you in their dust. When he enters your gates as an army entering a breached city, your walls will shake from the noise of cavalry, wagons, and chariots.

Ezekiel 26:15–19 · BSB

This is what the Lord GOD says to Tyre: ‘Will not the coastlands quake at the sound of your downfall, when the wounded groan at the slaughter in your midst?

Ezekiel 31:16 · BSB

I made the nations quake at the sound of its downfall, when I cast it down to Sheol with those who descend to the Pit. Then all the trees of Eden, the choicest and best of Lebanon, all the well-watered trees, were consol…

“the Lord”

Isaiah 10:6 Psalm 71:3 Jeremiah 47:7 Nahum 1:14

Isaiah 10:6 · BSB

I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets.

Psalm 71:3 · BSB

Be my rock of refuge, where I can always go. Give the command to save me, for You are my rock and my fortress.

Jeremiah 47:7 · BSB

How can it rest when the LORD has commanded it? He has appointed it against Ashkelon and the shore of its coastland.”

Nahum 1:14 · BSB

The LORD has issued a command concerning you, O Nineveh: “There will be no descendants to carry on your name. I will cut off the carved image and cast idol from the house of your gods; I will prepare your grave, for you…

“against the merchant city”

Isaiah 23:3 Hosea 12:7 Hosea 12:8

Isaiah 23:3 · BSB

On the great waters came the grain of Shihor; the harvest of the Nile was the revenue of Tyre; she was the merchant of the nations.

Hosea 12:7 · BSB

A merchant loves to defraud with dishonest scales in his hands.

Hosea 12:8 · BSB

And Ephraim boasts: “How rich I have become! I have found wealth for myself. In all my labors, they can find in me no iniquity that is sinful.”

“the merchant city”

Genesis 9:25 Genesis 10:15–19 Zechariah 14:21 Mark 11:17 John 2:16

Genesis 9:25 · BSB

he said, “Cursed be Canaan! A servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”

Genesis 10:15–19 · BSB

And Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites,

Zechariah 14:21 · BSB

Indeed, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the LORD of Hosts, and all who sacrifice will come and take some pots and cook in them. And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the LOR…

Mark 11:17 · BSB

Then Jesus began to teach them, and He declared, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations’ ? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’ ”

John 2:16 · BSB

To those selling doves He said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn My Father’s house into a marketplace!”

“strong holds”

Zechariah 9:3 Zechariah 9:4

Zechariah 9:3 · BSB

Tyre has built herself a fortress; she has heaped up silver like dust, and gold like the dirt of the streets.

Zechariah 9:4 · BSB

Behold, the Lord will impoverish her and cast her wealth into the sea, and she will be consumed by fire.

Also

Exodus 14:21 Isaiah 25:2

Exodus 14:21 · BSB

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove back the sea with a strong east wind that turned it into dry land. So the waters were divided,

Isaiah 25:2 · BSB

Indeed, You have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin. The fortress of strangers is a city no more; it will never be rebuilt.

Cross references adapted from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0) and the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

In context

10Cultivate your land like the Nile, O Daughter of Tarshish; there is no longer a harbor.

12He said, “You shall rejoice no more, O oppressed Virgin Daughter of Sidon. Get up and cross over to Cyprus— even there you will find no rest.”

Read Isaiah 23