Isaiah 19:1–17

¹The burden of Egypt. Behold, Jehovah rideth upon a swift cloud, and cometh to Egypt; and the idols of Egypt are moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt melteth in the midst of it. ²And I will incite the Egyptians against the Egyptians; and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, kingdom against kingdom. ³And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst of it, and I will destroy the counsel thereof; and they shall seek unto the idols and unto the conjurers, and unto the necromancers, and unto the soothsayers. ⁴And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord, and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts. ⁵And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up; ⁶and the rivers shall stink, and the streams of Egypt shall be diminished and drain away: the reeds and sedges shall wither. ⁷The meadows by the Nile, on the banks of the Nile, and everything sown by the Nile, shall be dried up, be driven away, and be no more. ⁸And the fishers shall mourn, and all they that cast fish-hook into the Nile shall lament, and they that spread net upon the waters shall languish. ⁹And they that work in fine flax, and they that weave white stuffs shall be ashamed. ¹⁰And her pillars shall be broken in pieces, and all workers for hire shall be sad of soul. ¹¹They are but fools, the princes of Zoan, the wise counsellors of Pharaoh: their counsel is become senseless. How say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? ¹²Where are they then, thy wise men? Let them now tell thee, and let them make known what Jehovah of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt. ¹³The princes of Zoan are become foolish, the princes of Noph are deceived; and the corner-stones of its tribes have caused Egypt to err. ¹⁴Jehovah hath mingled a spirit of perverseness in the midst thereof; and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunkard staggereth in his vomit. ¹⁵Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, palm-branch or rush, may do. ¹⁶In that day shall Egypt be like unto women; and it shall tremble and fear because of the shaking of the hand of Jehovah of hosts, which he shaketh over it. ¹⁷And the land of Judah shall be a dismay unto Egypt: every one that thinketh of it shall be afraid for himself, because of the counsel of Jehovah of hosts, which he hath purposed against it.