Abstract
Most scholars believe that Isaiah’s Tyre Oracle is a prophetic lament. This article argues that Isa. 23.1-14 is best understood as a predictive satirical city-lament. In order to make this case, both prophetic satire and the genre of a city-lament are defined. A translation of Isa. 23.1-14 is followed by an investigation of the text’s context, verbal markers and perceptible contradictions. Observations on Ezekiel’s oracle against Tyre (27.1-11, 26-36) lead to the conclusion that the genre of a city-lament requires treating the downfall as a past event, whereas in terms of history it is still in the future.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.