Isaiah 19

International Standard Version

A Rebuke to Egypt

19 A message^[a] about Egypt:

“Watch out! The Lord rides on a swift cloud,
    and is coming to Egypt.
The idols of Egypt tremble before him,
    and the hearts of the Egyptians melt within them.
²I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,
    and everyone will fight against his brother,
everyone against his neighbor,
    city^[b] against city,
        kingdom against kingdom.
³The spirits of the Egyptians within them will be drained of courage,^[c]
    and I will bring their plans to nothing.
They will consult idols^[d] and spirits of the dead,
    and mediums and spiritists.
⁴I will hand the Egyptians over
    to the power of a cruel master,
        and a fierce king will rule over them,”

declares the Lord God of the Heavenly Armies.

A Rebuke to Egypt’s Ecology and Industry

⁵“The water sources^[e] of the Nile^[f] will be dried up,
    and the river^[g] will become dry and parched.
⁶The canals will stink,
    and^[h] the tributaries of Egypt will dwindle and dry up.
        Reeds and rushes will wither away.^[i]
⁷And the bulrushes along the Nile,^[j]
    along the mouth of the Nile,^[k] will wither away.
All the sown fields of the Nile will become parched,
    and^[l] they will be blown away;
        there will be nothing left.^[m]
⁸The fishermen will groan,
    and all who cast hooks into the Nile will lament;
those who spread nets upon the water
    will become weaker and weaker.
⁹The workers^[n] in combed flax
    and the weavers of white linen
        will be in despair.
¹⁰Egypt’s^[o] workers in cloth^[p] will be crushed,
    and all who work for wages will be sick at heart.”

A Rebuke to Egypt’s Leaders

¹¹Zoan’s princes are nothing but fools;
    the wisest advisors of Pharaoh give stupid advice.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
    “I’m a descendant of wise men,
        a descendant of ancient kings”?
¹²Where are your wise men now?
    Let them tell you,
let them make known
    what the Lord^[q] has planned against Egypt.
¹³The princes of Zoan have become fools,
    and the princes of Memphis deluded;
the leaders^[r] of its tribes
    have led Egypt astray.
¹⁴The Lord has mixed^[s] within them^[t] a spirit of confusion;
    so they make Egypt stagger in all that it does,
        like a drunkard staggers around in his vomit.
¹⁵As a result, there will be nothing for Egypt
    that head or tail, palm branch or reed, can do.^[u]

Egypt and Syria Will Worship God

¹⁶At that time,^[v] the Egyptians will be like women—they^[w] will shudder and be afraid before the uplifted hand of the Lord of the Heavenly Armies, when he brandishes his hand against her.^[x] ¹⁷And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians. Everyone to whom it is mentioned will be afraid, because of the uplifted hand^[y] of the Lord of the Heavenly Armies that^[z] is turning in their direction.

¹⁸At that time,^[aa] there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of the Heavenly Armies. One of them will be called the City of the Sun.^[ab]

¹⁹At that time,^[ac] there will be an altar to the Lord of the Heavenly Armies^[ad] in the heart of the land of Egypt, and a monument to the Lord^[ae] at its border. ²⁰It will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of the Heavenly Armies in the land of Egypt; when they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior, and he will come down^[af] and rescue them. ²¹So the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will acknowledge the Lord.

At that time,^[ag] they will worship^[ah] with sacrifices and offerings, and they will make vows to the Lord and carry them out. ²²The Lord will strike Egypt with a plague, striking but then healing. Then they will turn to the Lord, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them.

²³At that time,^[ai] there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will come into Egypt, and the Egyptians into Assyria, and they^[aj] will worship with the Assyrians.

²⁴At that time,^[ak] Israel will be in a triple alliance^[al] with Egypt and Assyria; they will be^[am] a blessing in the midst of the earth. ²⁵The Lord of the Heavenly Armies has blessed them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”

Footnotes

Isaiah 19:1 Lit. An oracle
Isaiah 19:2 So 1QIsa^a; MT LXX lack and
Isaiah 19:3 1QIsa^a MT lack of courage
Isaiah 19:3 So 1QIsa^a; MT reads consult the idols; LXX reads consult their idols
Isaiah 19:5 1QIsa^a MT lack sources
Isaiah 19:5 Or the sea
Isaiah 19:5 I.e. the Nile
Isaiah 19:6 So 1QIsa^a LXX; the Heb. lacks and
Isaiah 19:6 So 4QIsa^b MT; 1QIsa^a lacks this line
Isaiah 19:7 So 1QIsa^a MT; LXX lacks this line
Isaiah 19:7 Lit. the River
Isaiah 19:7 So 1QIsa^a; the Heb. lacks and
Isaiah 19:7 So 1QIsa^a; 4QIsa^b MT read and will be no more; LXX lacks this line
Isaiah 19:9 So 1QIsa^a 4QIsa^b; MT LXX read And the workers
Isaiah 19:10 Lit. Its
Isaiah 19:10 Lit. Its weavers
Isaiah 19:12 So 1QIsa^a; 1QIsa^a corrector MT LXX read Lord of the Heavenly Armies
Isaiah 19:13 Or cornerstones
Isaiah 19:14 So 1QIsa^a MT LXX; 4QIsa^b reads has poured
Isaiah 19:14 Lit. it
Isaiah 19:15 So 1QIsa^a MT LXX; 4QIsa^b reads do at that time
Isaiah 19:16 Lit. On that day; so 1QIsa^a MT LXX; 4QIsa^b lacks At that time
Isaiah 19:16 So 1QIsa^a; 4QIsa^b MT read he
Isaiah 19:16 I.e. Egypt; so 1QIsa^a; MT reads Armies, which he brandishes against it; LXX reads Armies, which he brandishes against them
Isaiah 19:17 Lit. plotting; so 4QIsa^b; 1QIsa^a MT LXX read plan
Isaiah 19:17 So 4QIsa^b; 1QIsa^a MT LXX read hand that the Lord of the Heavenly Armies
Isaiah 19:18 Lit. On that day
Isaiah 19:18 So 1QIsa^a 4QIsa^b MT^mss; MT reads Destruction; LXX reads Asedek City; i.e. City of Righteousness
Isaiah 19:19 Lit. On that day
Isaiah 19:19 So 4QIsa^b; 1QIsa^a MT LXX lack of the Heavenly Armies
Isaiah 19:19 So 1QIsa^a MT LXX; 4QIsa^b reads Lord of hosts
Isaiah 19:20 So 1QIsa^a; MT LXX read will defend
Isaiah 19:21 Lit. On that day
Isaiah 19:21 So 1QIsa^a; MT LXX read Lord on that day. And they will worship
Isaiah 19:23 Lit. On that day
Isaiah 19:23 So 1QIsa^a; 4QIsa^b MT LXX read and the Egyptians
Isaiah 19:24 Lit. On that day
Isaiah 19:24 Lit. will be the third
Isaiah 19:24 DSS MT lack they will be

International Standard Version (ISV)