Old Testament · Isaiah

Isaiah 19

The Burden against Egypt

1The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rides upon a swift cloud and comes to Egypt; and the idols of Egypt totter before him, and the heart of Egypt melts within it.

2And I will incite Egypt against Egypt, and they will fight every man^a against his brother and every man against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.
3And the spirit^b of Egypt will be emptied within it, and its counsel I will swallow up; and they will seek to the idols, and to the whisperers, and to the ghosts, and to the familiar spirits.
4And I will shut up Egypt into the hand of a hard master, and a fierce king will rule over them, declaration of the Lord^c, the LORD of hosts^d.
5And waters will fail from the sea, and the river will be waste and dry up.
6And the rivers will stink; the streams of Matzor will dwindle and dry up; reed and rush will wither.
7The bare places by the Nile, by the mouth of the Nile, and all that is sown by the Nile, will dry up, be driven away, and be no more.
8And the fishers will mourn, and all who cast a hook into the Nile will lament, and those who spread a net upon the face of the waters will languish.
9And those who work^e combed flax will be ashamed, and the weavers of white cloth.
10And her foundations will be crushed, all who make wages grieved of soul^f.
11Surely fools are the princes of Zoan, the wisest counselors of Pharaoh; counsel has become brutish. How do you say to Pharaoh, "I am a son of the wise, a son of kings of old"?
12Where then are they, your wise men? Let them tell you now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts has purposed against Egypt.
13The princes of Zoan have become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have led Egypt astray, the cornerstone of her tribes.
14The LORD has mingled within her a spirit of perverseness, and they have led Egypt astray in all its work, as a drunkard staggers in his vomit.
15And there will not be for Egypt any work that head or tail, palm-branch or rush, may do.

A Blessing upon the Earth

16In that day Egypt will be like the women^g, and it will tremble and dread because of the waving of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which he waves over it. 17And the ground^h of Judah will become a terror to Egypt; everyone who mentions it to him will dread, because of the counsel of the LORD of hosts that he is counseling against it.

18In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking the language of Canaan and swearing to the LORD of hosts; to one it will be said, the City of Destruction.

19In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar beside its border to the LORD. 20And it will be for a signⁱ and for a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the LORD because of oppressors, and he will send to them a savior^j, even a great one, and he will deliver them. 21And the LORD will be made known to Egypt, and Egypt will know the LORD in that day; and they will serve with sacrifice and offering, and they will vow a vow to the LORD and fulfill it.

22And the LORD will strike Egypt, striking and healing; and they will return to the LORD, and he will be entreated by them and will heal them.

23In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria; and Egypt will serve with Assyria.

24In that day Israel will be a third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth. 25whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance."