Isaiah 23 · Verse 7

Isaiah 23:7

Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.

Isaiah 23:7, King James Version

Isaiah 23:7 in other translations

BSB	Is this your jubilant city, whose origin is from antiquity, whose feet have taken her to settle far away?
WEB	Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days, whose feet carried her far away to travel?
ASV	Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days, whose feet carried her afar off to sojourn?
YLT	Is this your exulting one? From the days of old is her antiquity, Carry her do her own feet afar off to sojourn.
DARBY	Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? Her feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.
BBE	Is this the town which was full of joy, whose start goes back to times long past, whose wanderings took her into far-off countries?
Webster	Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? her own feet shall carry her far off to sojourn.

What does Isaiah 23:7 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

7. Is this silent ruin all that is left of your once joyous city (Is 23:12)? antiquity--The Tyrian priests boasted in Herodotus' time that their city had already existed 2300 years: an exaggeration, but still implying that it was ancient even then. her own feet--walking on foot as captives to an enemy's land.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 7 Whose antiquity is of ancient days "Whose antiquity is of the earliest date" - Justin, in the passage above quoted, had dated the building of Tyre at a certain number of years before the taking of Troy; but the number is lost in the present copies. Tyre, though not so old as Sidon, was yet of very high antiquity: it was a strong city even in the time of Joshua. It is called עיר מבצר צר ir mibtsar tsor, "the city of the fortress of Sor," Jos 19:29. Interpreters raise difficulties in regard to this passage, and will not allow it to have been so ancient; with what good reason I do not see, for it is called by the same name, "the fortress of Sor," in the history of David, 2Sam 24:7, and the circumstances of the history determine the place to be the very same. See on Isa 23:1 (note). Whose antiquity is of ancient days, may refer to Palaetyrus, or Old Tyre. Her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn - This may belong to the new or insular Tyre; her own feet, that is, her own inhabitants, shall carry her - shall transport the city, from the continent to the island. "But the text says it shall be carried far off, and the new city was founded only half a mile distant from the other." I answer, מרחוק merachok does not always signify a great distance, but distance or interval in general; for in Jos 3:4 רחוק rachok is used to express the space between the camp and the ark, which we know to have been only two thousand cubits. Some refer the sojourning afar off to the extent of the commercial voyages undertaken by the Tyrians and their foreign connections.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Isaiah 23:1-14

The overthrow of Tyre. (Is. 23:1-14) It is established again. (Is. 23:15-18) Verses 1-14 Tyre was the mart of the nations. She was noted for mirth and diversions; and this made her loth to consider the warnings God gave by his servants. Her merchants were princes, and lived like princes. Tyre being destroyed and laid waste, the merchants should abandon her. Flee to shift for thine own safety; but those that are…

Read the full comment on Isaiah 23:1-14 →

Isaiah 23:7 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

הֲזֹ֥אתha.Zot¿ [is] thisH2063

לָכֶ֖םla.Khemof you

עַלִּיזָ֑ה'a.li.Zahjubilant [city]H5947

מִֽימֵי\־mi.mei-[which is] from days ofH3117

קֶ֤דֶםKe.demantiquityH6924

קַדְמָתָהּ֙kad.ma.Tahbeginning itsH6927

יֹבִל֣וּהָyoi.Lu.ha[which] they have carried itH2986

רַגְלֶ֔יהָrag.Lei.hafeet itsH7272

מֵֽרָח֖וֹקme.ra.Chokfrom a distanceH7350

לָגֽוּר\׃la.Gurto sojournH1481

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Isaiah 23:7

Isaiah 22:2
Thou that art full of stirs, a tumultuous city, a joyous city: thy slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle.
Joshua 19:29
And then the coast turneth to Ramah, and to the strong city Tyre; and the coast turneth to Hosah; and the outgoings thereof are at the sea from the coast to Achzib:
Ecclesiastes 10:7
I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth.
Isaiah 47:1-2
Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.
Isaiah 32:13
Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city:

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

your.
22:2
whose.
Jos 19:29
her own.
47:1,2; Ec 10:7
afar off. Heb. from afar off.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Isaiah 23:6
Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the isle.
Isaiah 23:7
Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.
Isaiah 23:8
Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth?

Read all of Isaiah 23

Isaiah 23:7 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	¿No era ésta vuestra ciudad alegre, su antigüedad de muchos días? Sus pies la llevarán á peregrinar lejos.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Est-ce là votre ville joyeuse, qui avait son origine dès les jours d’autrefois? Ses pieds la porteront pour demeurer au loin en étrangère.
German Elberfelder 1871	Ist das eure frohlockende Stadt, deren Ursprung aus den Tagen der Vorzeit ist, welche ihre Füße tragen, um in der Ferne zu weilen?
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Numquid non vestra hæc est, quæ gloriabatur a diebus pristinis in antiquitate sua? Ducent eam pedes sui longe ad peregrinandum.