Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle; thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished.
Be still - struck dumb with awe. Addressed to those already in the country, eye-witnesses of its ruin (Lamentations 2:10); or, in contrast to the busy din of commerce once heard in Tyre, now all is hushed and still.
Ye inhabitants of the isle - strictly applicable to New Tyre: in the sense coast, to the mainland city, Old Tyre (cf. Isaiah 23:6; Isaiah 20:6).
Zidon - of which Tyre was a colony, planted when Zidon was conquered by the Philistines of Ascalon (Justin, 18: 3). Zidon means a fishing station: this was its beginning.
Replenished - with wealth and an industrious population (Ezekiel 27:3; Ezekiel 27:8; Ezekiel 27:23). Here "Zidon" as the oldest city of Phoenicia, includes all the Phoenician towns on the strip of 'coast.' Thus, Ethbaal, King of Tyre (Josephus, 'Antiquities,' 8: 3, 2), is called king of the Sidonians (1 Kings 16:31); and on coins Tyre is called the metropolis of the Sidonians. Zidon was "the first-born of Canaan" (Genesis 10:15), and is called 'Great Zidon' -
i.e., the metropolis Zidon-in Joshua 11:8; Joshua 19:28. In Joshua 13:6; Judges 18:7, "Zidonians" is the generic name for the Phoenicians or Canaanites. Moreover, the reason assigned for there being no deliverer to Laish is, 'they were far from the Zidonians;' whence it follows that Tyre was not then the main city. So Homer does not mention Tyre, but does Zidon ('Odyssey,' 15: 425; 13: 285; 'Iliad,' 23: 743): he praises the Zidonians as skilled workmen; the Phoenicians as skilled mariners.