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

16 In that dayf the Egyptians will become weaklings.g They will shudder with fearh at the uplifted handi 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,j because of what the Lord Almighty is planningk against them.

18 In that dayl five citiesm in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiancen to the Lord Almighty. One of them will be called the City of the Sun.a o

19 In that dayp there will be an altarq to the Lord in the heart of Egypt,r and a monuments to the Lord at its border. 20 It will be a sign and witnesst 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 savioru and defender, and he will rescuev them. 21 So the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledgew the Lord. They will worshipx with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and keep them.y 22 The Lord will strikez Egypt with a plague;a he will strike them and heal them. They will turnb to the Lord, and he will respond to their pleas and healc them.

23 In that dayd there will be a highwaye from Egypt to Assyria.f The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worshipg together. 24 In that dayh Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria,i a blessingb j on the earth. 25 The Lord Almighty will blessk them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people,l Assyria my handiwork,m and Israel my inheritance.n”