23:5
(Verse 5) When it is heard in Egypt, they will grieve when they hear about Tyre. This is clear, that after the Egyptians hear about the most powerful and neighboring nation being destroyed by a long siege, they will also know that their own destruction is approaching.
23:6
(Verse 6.) Cross over, O sea! Cry out, you who dwell on the island! Once again, they have carried Carthage across the sea and to Tharsis, seventy ships. We read in the histories of the Assyrians that the besieged Tyrians, seeing no hope of escape, fled to Carthage, either to other islands of the Ionian and Aegean seas. Hence it is said in Ezekiel: No wages were given to him, nor to his army from Tyre (Ezek. 29); because all the wealth of the city has been transferred, and all its nobles have abandoned it empty.
23:7
(Verse 7) Is this not yours, which boasted in its ancient days? Tyre, pride, has been rebuked because it boasted in its ancient state and did not look to God. Instead, it remembered the names of its ancestors, thinking itself eternal.
He led her two hundred feet away for a pilgrimage. He says this to those who remained in the city, and the captives were led to Babylon.
23:8
(Verse 8.) Who ever thought about this regarding Tyre, once crowned? Again, read Ezekiel (Ezek. XXVII), and you will learn of the great glory of Tyre from the lamentation of its prince. He calls it crowned because just as a king raises his head adorned with a diadem among a great multitude of people, so Tyre, shining and rich in wealth, adorned with gold and gems, silk and purple, was considered a queen among all nations.
Whose merchants were the principal ones, and his attendants were distinguished in the land. We marvel at the envoy of Pyrrhus who once said of the city of Rome, I have seen a city of kings. Behold, long before those times, the merchants and attendants of Tyre, the principal and distinguished ones, are described in such a way as to demonstrate the greatness of wealth, since a Tyrian merchant could be called a king in the words of another.
23:9
(Verse 9.) The Lord of hosts has thought of this, to take away the pride of all glory: and to bring into contempt all the glorious ones of the earth. For as he had said above: Who hath thought the former Tyre, crowned by the ancients, that such a thing should be done? Now he himself speaks: Not of the fates, as foolish men imagine, are these threads spun: not by the turning of fortune's wheel, but by the judgment of God and his own will, is all this accomplished, who resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble (James 4): and it warns the arrogant of their condition, that they may learn his power through misery, whose mercy they refused to feel through benefits.
23:10
(Verse 10) Go through your land like a river, O daughter of the sea; you have no more restraint. Just as a river, or as the Hebrew more significantly has it, a stream, for this is called Jabbok, is easily crossed on foot, so you, O daughter of the sea, whether because you are an island or because it is written about you: 'The sea has spoken, the strength of the sea, I have not travailed, nor given birth.' And what he adds, 'you have no more restraint', Symmachus clearly teaches us the meaning: you will no longer be able to resist, that is, you will not have strength, nor will you gird your loins for battle, so that you may oppose your adversaries.
23:11
(Verse 11.) He stretched out his hand over the sea, he troubled the kingdoms. Who stretched out his hand? Without a doubt, based on the context of the words themselves, it is God, about whom he said above: the Lord of hosts has planned this, to take away the pride of all glory. He therefore stretched out his hand over all the seas, signifying the world and its inhabitants, and troubled all the nations, among which, even you, Tyre, were troubled, whether it be over the sea, on which you are specifically situated.
23:12
(Verse 12) The Lord commanded against Canaan, to crush its strong ones. He showed that there is a sea, upon which the Lord stretched out his hand, saying: He commanded against Canaan. For Tyre was founded in the land of Canaan. Read the Scriptures, especially the Gospel (Mark 7), where the Syrophoenician woman, interceding for her daughter, comes out of the land of Canaan, which is called the Canaanite woman. And at the same time, because he had said: He stretched out his hand, lest you believe that the Lord was working with his limbs and physical function, he added that it was commanded, that it was done by God's order.
23:13
(Verse 13) And he said: You shall no longer boast, enduring slander, O virgin daughter of Sidon, rising up to Cythim, crossing over: there also you will find no rest. God, who has determined to bring down the pride of all glory, who has commanded against Canaan, to crush its warriors, he himself says, By no means shall you boast any longer, and trust in your own power. O virgin daughter of Sidon, that is, the colony of the Sidonians, you will indeed flee by ships to the islands of the West, or to Cyprus, and the other lands of Macedonia and Greece, but even there, when God opposes you, you will not find rest. Furthermore, he is always wandering and a stranger in the world, and in uncertain places, always in distress and constantly in sorrow.
23:13-14
(Verse 13, 14.) Behold the land of the Chaldeans, such a people has never existed: Assyria laid it waste, they led away its strong men, they dug up its houses, they reduced it to ruins. Wail, O ships of the sea, for your strength is destroyed. For as it was said before: His feet will travel a great distance in exile; and again, Cross over your land like a river, and the people of Tyre will be doubly afflicted, those who fled and crossed over to Cyprus, and those who remained in the city. About those who had fled, he says above: Rising up, cross over to Cethim, there also there will be no rest for you. About those who remained and were led into captivity, he says: Behold, the inhabitants of the land of the Chaldeans, whose power no other people had before, and which was founded by the Assyrians, they have led mighty men of Tyre. They not only dug up the walls, but also all the dwellings of the city, and turned it into ruins. Therefore, because some have fled and others have been captured, howl, O ships, whether of the sea or of Carthage; for your trade and colony have been destroyed. At the same time, consider how he praised the Chaldeans. He did not say that such a people will no longer exist: for indeed, the kingdom of the Romans is more powerful and harsher; but, there was not one before. He who denied the previous things, has conceded the following things.
23:15
(Verse 15.) And it shall come to pass on that day, Tyre, you shall be forgotten for seventy years, like the days of one king. From this point until the end of this prophecy, favorable tidings are announced for Tyre, that it shall repent, that it shall be rebuilt again, but that its destruction shall remain for only seventy years, the same number of years that the temple of God was desolate. Tyre shall imitate the time of its ruins, just as it had mocked the ruins of others. However, many believe that the seventy years of one king refer to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, during which the kingdom of the Assyrian people persisted in Jerusalem. Others generally claim that someone who has had a long reign cannot exceed seventy years.
23:16