Verse 1
The prophet described news of Tyre’s total destruction reaching sailors on ships of Tarshish moored in Cyprus. The Tarshish (lit. refinery) in view here was probably in Spain, but "ships of Tarshish" was a term that described the largest ships of the day capable of the longest voyages (cf. Isaiah 2:16). Tyre was a very important Mediterranean seaport north of Israel, and its destruction would impact maritime trade everywhere.
"It is not improbable that the whole of the Mediterranean may have been called ’the sea of Tarshish;’ and hence the rendering adopted by the Targum, Jerome, Luther, and others, naves maris . . ." [Note: Delitzsch, 1:406.]
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