John Calvin 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 soon as the report shall reach the Egyptians. In this verse he declares that this destruction will affect the inhabitants of Tyre and those of Egypt equally; and this confirms the exposition we follow, that the present prophecy relates to a former devastation.

The inhabitants of Tyre had been in alliance with the Egyptians, and both countries had been under kingly government; this contrasts with Alexander’s time, when Tyre was a free state and lived under its own laws. The alliance that existed between the inhabitants of Tyre and Egypt could not have been more appropriately described.

Therefore, he shows that this ruin also extends to the Egyptians, because they prompted the Jews to rebellion and turned them aside from confidence in God. The former were open enemies; the latter, under the pretense of friendship, cherished dangerous hostility, and therefore both are justly punished.