A Prophecy Against Egypt

19 A prophecyv against Egypt:w

See, the Lord rides on a swift cloudx

and is coming to Egypt.

The idols of Egypt tremble before him,

and the hearts of the Egyptians melty with fear.

2 “I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian—

brother will fight against brother,z

neighbor against neighbor,

city against city,

kingdom against kingdom.a

3 The Egyptians will lose heart,b

and I will bring their plansc to nothing;d

they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead,

the mediums and the spiritists.e

4 I will hand the Egyptians over

to the power of a cruel master,

and a fierce kingf will rule over them,”

declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.

5 The waters of the river will dry up,g

and the riverbed will be parched and dry.h

6 The canals will stink;i

the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up.j

The reedsk and rushes will wither,l

7 also the plantsm along the Nile,

at the mouth of the river.

Every sown fieldn along the Nile

will become parched, will blow away and be no more.o

8 The fishermenp will groan and lament,

all who cast hooksq into the Nile;

those who throw nets on the water

will pine away.

9 Those who work with combed flaxr will despair,

the weavers of fine linens 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 Zoant are nothing but fools;

the wise counselorsu of Pharaoh give senseless advice.v

How can you say to Pharaoh,

“I am one of the wise men,w

a disciple of the ancient kings”?

12 Where are your wise menx now?

Let them show you and make known

what the Lord Almighty

has plannedy against Egypt.

13 The officials of Zoanz have become fools,

the leaders of Memphisa are deceived;

the cornerstonesb of her peoples

have led Egypt astray.

14 The Lord has poured into them

a spirit of dizziness;c

they make Egypt stagger in all that she does,

as a drunkard staggersd around in his vomit.

15 There is nothing Egypt can do—

head or tail, palm branch or reed.e