He stretched out his hand over the sea, he shook the kingdoms: the LORD hath given a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strong holds thereof.

ISAIAH 23:11KJV
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Isaiah 23:11 (KJV)

What does Isaiah 23:11 mean?

Isaiah 23:11 says that the LORD has ordered the destruction of the merchant city’s defenses. The verse places that command within a larger picture of upheaval: the LORD’s action reaches across the sea and shakes kingdoms.

Isaiah uses the image of a hand stretched over the sea to picture the LORD exercising power over the region where the merchant city trades. The words move from that broad scene to the strongholds that protect the city itself.

The Hebrew behind Isaiah 23:11

  • “merchant” — כְּנַעַן (kenaʿan): This word can refer to Canaan or to merchants. In the KJV’s “merchant city,” the translation brings out the trading identity associated with Tyre in the passage.
  • “strong holds” — מָעוֹז (maʿoz): This word means a place of strength or refuge. The phrase points to the city’s defenses, where its people might expect protection.

Why Isaiah 23:11 matters

  • The verse identifies the LORD as the one behind the command. The opening “He” is made clear when Isaiah says, “the LORD hath given a commandment.”
  • Tyre’s sea trade helps explain the picture of the sea and the reach of the upheaval. Earlier in the passage, verse 8 calls Tyre’s traders “princes” and its merchants “the honourable of the earth.”
  • The command is aimed at the city’s ability to withstand attack. “To destroy the strong holds thereof” focuses attention on the places that give the city security.

Where else these words appear

“strong” Hebrew H4581 · used in 35 verses

  • Judges 6:26 And build an altar unto the LORD thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down.
  • Psalms 108:8 Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine; Ephraim also is the strength of mine head; Judah is my lawgiver;
  • Ezekiel 24:25 Also, thou son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their minds, their sons and their daughters,

“shook” Hebrew H7264 · used in 40 verses

  • Genesis 45:24 So he sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way.
  • Psalms 4:4 Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.
  • Isaiah 32:11 Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.

“destroy” Hebrew H8045 · used in 86 verses

  • Genesis 34:30 And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.
  • Deuteronomy 31:3 The LORD thy God, he will go over before thee, and he will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt possess them: and Joshua, he shall go over before thee, as the LORD hath said.
  • Esther 4:8 Also he gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was given at Shushan to destroy them, to shew it unto Esther, and to declare it unto her, and to charge her that she should go in unto the king, to make supplication unto him, and to make request before him for her people.

“merchant” Hebrew H3667 · used in 91 verses

  • Genesis 9:18 And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.
  • Genesis 45:17 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto thy brethren, This do ye; lade your beasts, and go, get you unto the land of Canaan;
  • Numbers 35:10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come over Jordan into the land of Canaan;