Isaiah 19:1-15
Christian Standard Bible
A Pronouncement against Egypt
19 A pronouncement(A) concerning Egypt:(B)
Look, the Lord rides on a swift cloud(C)
and is coming to Egypt.
Egypt’s worthless idols will tremble before him,(D)
and Egypt will lose heart.(E)
2 I will provoke Egyptians against Egyptians;
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 inquire of worthless idols, ghosts,
mediums, and spiritists.(H)
4 I will hand over Egypt to harsh masters,(I)
and a strong king will rule it.
This is the declaration of the Lord God of Armies.
5 The water 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 wilt.
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 give up.
9 Those who work with flax will be dismayed;(J)
those combing it and weaving linen will turn pale.[a]
10 Egypt’s weavers[b] 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[c] of the wise,
a student of eastern[d] kings”?
12 Where then are your wise men?
Let them tell you and reveal
what the Lord of Armies 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.
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