Isaiah 19-21

Holman Christian Standard Bible

Look, the Lord rides on a swift cloud^(C)
and is coming to Egypt.
Egypt’s idols will tremble before Him,^(D)
and Egypt’s heart will melt within it.^(E)
2 I will provoke Egypt against Egypt;
each will fight against his brother^(F)
and each against his friend,
city against city, kingdom against kingdom.^(G)
3 Egypt’s spirit will be disturbed within it,
and I will frustrate its plans.
Then they will seek idols, ghosts,
spirits of the dead, and spiritists.^(H)
4 I will deliver Egypt into the hands of harsh masters,^(I)
and a strong king will rule it.
This is the declaration of the Lord God of Hosts.

⁵ The waters of the sea will dry up,
and the river will be parched and dry.
⁶ The channels will stink;
they will dwindle, and Egypt’s canals will be parched.
Reed and rush will die.^[a]
7 The reeds by the Nile, by the mouth of the river,
and all the cultivated areas of the Nile
will wither, blow away, and vanish.
⁸ Then the fishermen will mourn.
All those who cast hooks into the Nile will lament,
and those who spread nets on the water will shrivel up.
⁹ Those who work with flax will be dismayed;^(J)
the combers and weavers will turn pale.^[b]
10 Egypt’s weavers^[c] will be dejected;
all her wage earners will be demoralized.

¹¹ The princes of Zoan are complete fools;^(K)
Pharaoh’s wisest advisers give stupid advice!
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am one^[d] of the wise,
a student of eastern^[e] kings”?
¹² Where then are your wise men?
Let them tell you and reveal
what the Lord of Hosts has planned against Egypt.
¹³ The princes of Zoan have been fools;
the princes of Memphis are deceived.^(L)
Her tribal chieftains have led Egypt astray.
¹⁴ The Lord has mixed within her a spirit of confusion.
The leaders have made Egypt stagger in all she does,
as a drunkard staggers in his vomit.
¹⁵ No head or tail, palm or reed,^(M)
will be able to do anything for Egypt.

Like storms that pass over the Negev,
it comes from the desert, from the land of terror.
² A troubling vision is declared to me:
“The treacherous one acts treacherously,^(AD)
and the destroyer destroys.
Advance, Elam! Lay siege, you Medes!
I will put an end to all her groaning.”

³ Therefore I am^[i] filled with anguish.
Pain grips me, like the pain of a woman in labor.^(AE)
I am too perplexed to hear,
too dismayed to see.
⁴ My heart staggers;
horror terrifies me.
He has turned my last glimmer of hope^[j]
into sheer terror.^(AF)
5 Prepare a table,^(AG) and spread out a carpet!
Eat and drink!
Rise up, you princes, and oil the shields!

⁶ For the Lord has said to me,
“Go, post a lookout;
let him report what he sees.
⁷ When he sees riders—
pairs of horsemen,
riders on donkeys,
riders on camels—
he must pay close attention.”
⁸ Then the lookout^[k] reported,
“Lord, I stand on the watchtower all day,^(AH)
and I stay at my post all night.
⁹ Look, riders come—
horsemen in pairs.”
And he answered, saying,
“Babylon has fallen,^(AI) has fallen.
All the images of her gods
have been shattered on the ground.”^(AJ)

¹⁰ My people who have been crushed
on the threshing floor,^(AK)
I have declared to you
what I have heard from the Lord of Hosts,
the God of Israel.

One calls to me from Seir,^(AN)
“Watchman, what is left of the night?
Watchman, what is left of the night?”
¹² The watchman said,
“Morning has come, and also night.
If you want to ask, ask!
Come back again.”

In the desert^[m] brush
you will camp for the night,
you caravans of Dedanites.^(AP)
14 Bring water for the thirsty.
The inhabitants of the land of Tema^(AQ)
meet^[n] the refugees with food.
¹⁵ For they have fled from swords,
from the drawn sword,
from the bow that is strung,
and from the stress of battle.