1
THE BURDEN OF SOR
The burden of Sor: Howl, you ships of Tarshish; for it is ravaged, so that there is neither house nor entering in: from the land of Kittim it was exposed to them.
2 Be still, you settlers of the island; you whom the merchants of Sidon, who, passing over the sea, fulfilled.
3 And by great waters is the seed of Shichor; the harvest of the river is her produce; and she is a merchant of goyim.
4 Shame, O Sidon: for the sea says - even the stronghold of the sea says, I neither writhe, nor birth; neither nourish youths, nor raise virgins.
5 As at the report concerning Misrayim, they writhe at the report of Sor.
6 You, pass over to Tarshish; howl, you settlers of the island.
7 Is this your city jumping for joy - whose antiquity is of ancient days? - her own feet bear her afar off to sojourn.
8 Who takes this counsel against Sor, the crown - whose merchants are governors? - Whose merchants are the honorable of the earth?
9 Yah Veh Sabaoth counsels it to profane the pomp of all splendour and to abase all the honorable of the earth.
10 Pass through your land as a river, O daughter of Tarshish: there is no more girdle.
11 He spreads his hand over the sea, he quakes the sovereigndoms: Yah Veh misvahs against Kenaan to desolate the strong holds.
12 And he says, You, add not to jump for joy, O you oppressed virgin, daughter of Sidon: rise, pass over to Kittim; even there you rest not.
13 Behold the land of the Kesediym: this people was not; the Ashshuri founded it for the desert dwellers: they raise the towers; they strip bare the citadels; and he sets it to ruin.
14 Howl, you ships of Tarshish: for your stronghold is ravaged.
15 And so be it, in that day, that Sor is forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one sovereign: after the end of seventy years it becomes to Sor as the song of the whore.