An Oracle Concerning Egypt

19 An aoracle concerning bEgypt.

Behold, the Lord cis riding on a swift cloud

and comes to Egypt;

and dthe idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence,

and the heart of the Egyptians will emelt within them.

2  And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,

fand they will fight, each against another

and each against his neighbor,

city against city, kingdom against kingdom;

3  and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out,

and I will confound1 their gcounsel;

and they will inquire of the idols and the sorcerers,

and hthe mediums and the necromancers;

4  and I will give over the Egyptians

into the hand of ia hard master,

and a fierce king will rule over them,

declares the Lord God of hosts.

5  And the waters of the sea will be dried up,

and the river will be dry and parched,

6  and its canals will become foul,

and the branches of Egypt’s Nile will diminish and dry up,

reeds and rushes will rot away.

7  There will be bare places by the Nile,

on the brink of the Nile,

and all that is sown by the Nile will be parched,

will be driven away, and will be no more.

8  The jfishermen will mourn and lament,

all who cast a hook in the Nile;

and they will languish

who spread nets on the water.

9  The workers in kcombed flax will be in despair,

and the weavers of white cotton.

10  Those who are the lpillars of the land will be crushed,

and all who mwork for pay will be grieved.

11  The princes of nZoan are utterly foolish;

the wisest counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel.

How can you say to Pharaoh,

“I am a son of the wise,

a son of ancient kings”?

12  Where then are your owise men?

Let them tell you

that they might know what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt.

13  The princes of nZoan have become fools,

and the princes of pMemphis are deluded;

those who are the qcornerstones of her tribes

have made Egypt stagger.

14  The Lord has mingled within her ra spirit of confusion,

and they will make Egypt stagger in all its deeds,

sas a drunken man staggers in his vomit.

15  And there will be nothing for Egypt

that thead or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.