Texts in Conversation
Isaiah 23 laments the fall of Tyre, a major port city, using maritime imagery to portray its economic collapse. The Aramaic translation in Targum Jonathan maintains this imagery but introduces an anachronistic agent of destruction by identifying the attackers with Kittim, a term used in Jewish texts to represent Rome.
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Isaiah 23:1
Hebrew Bible
1 This is an oracle about Tyre: Wail, you large ships, for the port is too devastated to enter! From the land of Cyprus this news is announced to them. 2 Lament, you residents of the coast, you merchants of Sidon who travel over the sea, whose agents sail over 3 the deep waters. Grain from the Shihor region, crops grown near the Nile she receives; she is the trade center of the nations.
Date: 7th-5th Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Jonathan Isaiah 23:1
Targum
1 THE BURDEN OF THE CUP OF CURSING, TO GIVE TYRE TO DRINK. Howl, ye that are embarking in ships of the sea, because their havens are spoiled, so that none can enter in. From the land of Chittim it is coming upon them. 2 The inhabitants of the island are destroyed, the merchants that pass over the sea they used to replenish thee. 3 She was the plentiful mart for many nations; tihe harvest of the increase of the river was her revenue, and she became the mart of the nations.
Date: 200-300 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Those of Tyre, “who go down in ships of the sea” (compare Psalm 107:23, and 2:16 in the Apparatus), are the next object of the curse formula (verse 1, compare 13:4; 15:1; 17:1; 19:1; 21:11, 13). The military disaster is said to come from the Romans, who are referred to under the well-known cipher of “Kittim” (verses 1, 12). The noun actually refers to Cyprus, but in rabbinic literature it came to denote Rome's threat from the sea ..."
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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