Isaya 19

An oracle about Egypt

¹An oracle about Egypt. \q Look, the LORD is riding a swift cloud, on his way to Egypt. \q Egypt’s idols will shake at his coming, \q and Egypt’s courage will melt away inside it. ²I will set Egyptians against Egyptians. \q They will fight one another, brother with brother and neighbor with neighbor, \q city with city and kingdom with kingdom. ³Egypt’s spirit will drain away within it, \q and I will throw its plans into confusion. \q They will turn for answers to idols and ghosts, \q to mediums and to those who consult spirits. ⁴I will give Egypt into the grip of a hard master; \q a strong king will reign over them, \q declares the Lord, the LORD of Armies. ⁵The water will drain from the sea, \q and the river will shrink and run dry. ⁶The canals will reek, \q the branches of the Nile in Egypt will run low and dry up, \q and the reeds and rushes will waste away. ⁷The bare banks beside the Nile, at the mouth of the Nile, \q and every field sown along the Nile will dry out, blow away, and be gone.^{a 8}The fishermen will moan and grieve, \q all who drop a hook into the Nile, \q and those who spread their nets over the water will lose heart. ⁹The workers who comb flax will be put to shame, \q along with the weavers of white linen. ¹⁰Its pillars will be broken, \q and all who work for hire will be sick at heart.^{b 11}Zoan’s officials are complete fools; \q the wisest men who advise Pharaoh offer witless counsel. \q How can you tell Pharaoh, “I come from a line of wise men, from kings of long ago”? ¹²So where are your wise men? \q Let them explain to you, \q if they know, what the LORD of Armies intends for Egypt. ¹³Zoan’s officials have played the fool, \q and those of Memphis are deluded. \q The ones who should be the cornerstone of its tribes have sent Egypt off course. ¹⁴The LORD has poured into it a spirit that twists everything, \q and they have sent Egypt reeling in all it does, \q like a drunk who slips in his own vomit. ¹⁵Nothing that Egypt does will succeed, \q whether done by head or tail, by palm branch or reed.

¹⁶On that day Egypt will be like women, trembling and shaking in fear when the LORD of Armies raises his hand and waves it over them. ¹⁷Egypt will come to fear the land of Judah. Each time someone speaks its name, Egyptians will shudder at the plan that the LORD of Armies is making against them.

Egypt will know the LORD

¹⁸On that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and bind themselves by oath to the LORD of Armies. One will be known as the City of Destruction.^c

¹⁹On that day an altar to the LORD will stand in the middle of the land of Egypt, and a sacred pillar for the LORD near its border. ²⁰These will stand as a sign and a testimony to the LORD of Armies in the land of Egypt. When the Egyptians cry out to the LORD under their oppressors, he will send them someone to save them, a champion who will set them free. ²¹The LORD will reveal himself to Egypt, and on that day Egypt will know the LORD. They will bring him sacrifices and grain offerings in worship; they will make vows to the LORD and fulfill them. ²²The LORD will strike Egypt, striking and then healing. They will turn back to the LORD, and he will listen to their prayers and heal them. ²³On that day a raised road will link Egypt with Assyria. Assyria will travel into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and Egypt will join Assyria in worship.^d

A blessing in the middle of the earth

²⁴On that day Israel will make a third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the middle of the earth, ²⁵whom the LORD of Armies has blessed with these words: “May Egypt, my people, be blessed, and Assyria, which my hands have made, and Israel, my own inheritance.”