What Does Isaiah 23:13 Mean?

lo!; also (as expressing surprise) if

“Behold the land”

the earth (at large, or partitively a land)

“of the Chaldeans”

a kasdite, or descendant of kesed; by implication, a chaldaean (as if so descended); also an astrologer (as if proverbial of that people

the masculine demonstrative pronoun, this or that

“this people”

a people (as a congregated unit); specifically, a tribe (as those of israel); hence (collectively) troops or attendants; figuratively, a flock

not (the simple or abs. negation); by implication, no; often used with other particles

to exist, i.e., be or become, come to pass (always emphatic, and not a mere copula or auxiliary)

“was not till the Assyrian”

ashshur, the second son of shem; also his descendants and the country occupied by them (i.e., assyria), its region and its empire

“founded”

to set (literally or figuratively); intensively, to found; reflexively, to sit down together, i.e., settle, consult

“it for them that dwell in the wilderness”

a desert-dweller, i.e., nomad or wild beast

“they set up”

to rise (in various applications, literal, figurative, intensive and causative)

“the towers”

a watch-tower of besiegers

“thereof they raised up”

to bare; figuratively, to demolish

“the palaces”

a citadel (from its height)

“thereof and he brought”

to put (used in a great variety of applications, literal, figurative, inferentially, and elliptically)

“it to ruin”

something fallen, i.e., a ruin