ISAIAH
CHAPTER 19

A Prophecy About Egypt

¹ An oracle concerning Egypt:

See, the LORD rides on a swift cloud
and is coming to Egypt.
The idols of Egypt tremble before him,
and the hearts of the Egyptians melt within them.

² "I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian-
brother will fight against brother,
neighbor against neighbor,
city against city,
kingdom against kingdom.
³ The Egyptians will lose heart,
and I will bring their plans to nothing;
they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead,
the mediums and the spiritists.
⁴ I will hand the Egyptians over
to the power of a cruel master,
and a fierce king will rule over them,"
declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.

⁵ The waters of the river will dry up,
and the riverbed will be parched and dry.
⁶ The canals will stink;
the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up.
The reeds and rushes will wither,
⁷ also the plants along the Nile,
at the mouth of the river.
Every sown field along the Nile
will become parched, will blow away and be no more.
⁸ The fishermen will groan and lament,
all who cast hooks into the Nile;
those who throw nets on the water
will pine away.
⁹ Those who work with combed flax will despair,
the weavers of fine linen will lose hope.
¹⁰ The workers in cloth will be dejected,
and all the wage earners will be sick at heart.

¹¹ The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools;
the wise counselors of Pharaoh give senseless advice.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
"I am one of the wise men,
a disciple of the ancient kings"?

¹² Where are your wise men now?
Let them show you and make known
what the LORD Almighty
has planned against Egypt.
¹³ The officials of Zoan have become fools,
the leaders of Memphis ^[1] are deceived;
the cornerstones of her peoples
have led Egypt astray.
¹⁴ The LORD has poured into them
a spirit of dizziness;
they make Egypt stagger in all that she does,
as a drunkard staggers around in his vomit.
¹⁵ There is nothing Egypt can do-
head or tail, palm branch or reed.

¹⁶ In that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will shudder with fear at the uplifted hand that the LORD Almighty raises against them. ¹⁷ And the land of Judah will bring terror to the Egyptians; everyone to whom Judah is mentioned will be terrified, because of what the LORD Almighty is planning against them.
¹⁸ In that day five cities in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD Almighty. One of them will be called the City of Destruction. ^[2]
19 In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the LORD at its border. ²⁰ It will be a sign and witness to the LORD Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and he will rescue them. ²¹ So the LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the LORD . They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the LORD and keep them. ²² The LORD will strike Egypt with a plague; he will strike them and heal them. They will turn to the LORD , and he will respond to their pleas and heal them.
²³ In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. ²⁴ In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. ²⁵ The LORD Almighty will bless them, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance."

Footnotes

1. 19:13 Hebrew Noph
2. 19:18 Most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text; some manuscripts of the Masoretic Text, Dead Sea Scrolls and Vulgate City of the Sun (that is, Heliopolis)

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Bible text from Gospelcom.net.  Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.

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