Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 23:5

"When the report cometh to Egypt, they shall be sorely pained at the report of Tyre." — Isaiah 23:5 (ASV)

As at the report concerning Egypt - According to our translation, this verse seems to mean that the Sidonians and other nations were pained or grieved at the report of the calamities that had come upon Egypt, and that they would be similarly affected by the report concerning Tyre.

In accordance with this, some (as Jarchi) have understood it to refer to the plagues of Egypt. They suppose that the prophet means to say that, just as the nations were astonished at that event, so they would be astonished at the report of the calamities that would come upon Tyre.

Others refer it to the calamities that would come upon Egypt, mentioned in Isaiah 19. They suppose that the prophet means to say that, just as the nations would be amazed at the report of these calamities, so they would be amazed at the report of Tyre's overthrow. So Vitringa.

But the sense of the Hebrew can be expressed this way: ‘As the report, or news of Tyre's destruction reaches Egypt, they will be pained at the news about Tyre.’ So Lowth, Noyes, Rosenmuller, Grotius, and Calvin.

They would be grieved, either:

1. because the destruction of Tyre would injure Egypt's commerce; or
2. because the Egyptians might fear that Nebuchadnezzar's army would come upon them and that they would share Tyre's fate.

Sorely pained - The word used here (יחילוּ yâchı̂ylû) is commonly applied to the severe pain of childbirth.