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An Oracle Concerning Egypt

19 The [a](A)oracle concerning (B)Egypt.

Behold, Yahweh is (C)riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt;
The (D)idols of Egypt will shake at His presence,
And the (E)heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.
“So I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians;
And they will (F)each fight against his brother and each against his neighbor,
City against city and kingdom against kingdom.
Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be emptied to destruction within them;
And I will confuse their counsel,
So that (G)they will seek idols and ghosts of the dead
And to [b]mediums and spiritists.
Moreover, I will deliver the Egyptians into the hand of a (H)cruel master,
And a [c]strong king will rule over them,” declares the Lord, Yahweh of hosts.

(I)The waters from the sea will dry up,
And the river will be parched and dry.
The (J)rivers will emit a stench,
The [d](K)streams of Egypt will thin out and dry up;
(L)The reeds and rushes will rot away.
The bulrushes by the (M)Nile, by the [e]edge of the Nile
And all the sown fields by the Nile
Will become dry, be driven away, and be no more.
And the (N)fishermen will lament,
And all those who cast a [f]line into the Nile will mourn,
And those who spread nets on the waters will [g]languish.
Moreover, the manufacturers of linen made from combed flax
And the weavers of white (O)cloth will be ashamed.
10 And [h]the (P)pillars of Egypt will be crushed;
All the hired laborers will be grieved in soul.

11 The princes of [i](Q)Zoan are merely ignorant fools;
The counsel of Pharaoh’s wisest counselors has become [j]senseless.
How can you men say to Pharaoh,
“I am a son of the (R)wise, a son of the kings of old”?
12 Well then, where are your wise men?
Please let them tell you,
And let them [k]understand what Yahweh of hosts
Has (S)counseled against Egypt.
13 The princes of [l]Zoan have acted as ignorant fools,
The princes of (T)Memphis are deluded;
Those who are the (U)cornerstone of her tribes
[m]Have led Egypt astray.
14 Yahweh has mixed within her a spirit of (V)distortion;
(W)They have led Egypt astray in all [n]that it does,
As a (X)drunken man [o]strays into his vomit.
15 There will be no work for Egypt
(Y)Which its head or tail, its palm branch or bulrush, may do.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 19:1 Or burden of
  2. Isaiah 19:3 Or ghosts and spirits
  3. Isaiah 19:4 Or fierce
  4. Isaiah 19:6 The delta; or Nile branches
  5. Isaiah 19:7 Or mouth
  6. Isaiah 19:8 Lit hook
  7. Isaiah 19:8 Or pine away
  8. Isaiah 19:10 Lit her pillars
  9. Isaiah 19:11 Or Tanis
  10. Isaiah 19:11 Or brutish
  11. Isaiah 19:12 Or know
  12. Isaiah 19:13 Or Tanis
  13. Isaiah 19:13 Or Have caused Egypt to stagger
  14. Isaiah 19:14 Lit its work
  15. Isaiah 19:14 Or goes astray