Isaiah 19:1–17

Proclamation Against Egypt

19The ^aburden ¹against Egypt.

Behold, the Lord ^brides on a swift cloud,

And will come into Egypt;

^cThe idols of Egypt will ²totter at His presence,

And the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst.

²“I will ^dset Egyptians against Egyptians;

Everyone will fight against his brother,

And everyone against his neighbor,

City against city, kingdom against kingdom.

³The spirit of Egypt will fail in its midst;

I will destroy their counsel,

And they will ^econsult the idols and the charmers,

The mediums and the sorcerers.

⁴And the Egyptians I will give

^fInto the hand of a cruel master,

And a fierce king will rule over them,”

Says the Lord, the Lord of hosts.

^5gThe waters will fail from the sea,

And the river will be wasted and dried up.

⁶The rivers will turn foul;

The brooks ^hof defense will be emptied and dried up;

The reeds and rushes will wither.

⁷The papyrus reeds by ³the River, by the mouth of the River,

And everything sown by the River,

Will wither, be driven away, and be no more.

⁸The fishermen also will mourn;

All those will lament who cast hooks into the River,

And they will languish who spread nets on the waters.

⁹Moreover those who work in ⁱfine flax

And those who weave fine fabric will be ashamed;

¹⁰And its foundations will be broken.

All who make wages will be troubled of soul.

¹¹Surely the princes of ^jZoan are fools;

Pharaoh’s wise counselors give foolish counsel.

^kHow do you say to Pharaoh, “I am the son of the wise,

The son of ancient kings?”

^12lWhere are they?

Where are your wise men?

Let them tell you now,

And let them know what the Lord of hosts has ^mpurposed against Egypt.

¹³The princes of Zoan have become fools;

ⁿThe princes of ⁴Noph are deceived;

They have also ⁵deluded Egypt,

Those who are the ⁶mainstay of its tribes.

¹⁴The Lord has mingled ^oa perverse spirit in her midst;

And they have caused Egypt to err in all her work,

As a drunken man staggers in his vomit.

¹⁵Neither will there be any work for Egypt,

Which ^pthe head or tail,

Palm branch or bulrush, may do.

¹⁶In that day Egypt will ^qbe like women, and will be afraid and fear because of the waving of the hand of the Lord of hosts, ^rwhich He waves over it. ¹⁷And the land of Judah will be a terror to Egypt; everyone who makes mention of it will be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the Lord of hosts which He has ^sdetermined against it.