Isaiah 19:1-15

Common English Bible

Concerning Egypt

19 An oracle about Egypt.

Look! The Lord is riding upon a swift cloud,
    and is coming to Egypt.
Egypt’s idols will tremble before God;
    the Egyptians’ hearts will melt within them.
²I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian,
    and they will fight,
    one against another,
    neighbor against neighbor,
    city against city,
    kingdom against kingdom.
³Egypt’s spirit will fail from within;
        I will frustrate their plans.
    They will consult the idols and spirits
        and ghosts and fortune-tellers.
⁴I will hand Egypt over to a harsh master;
    a strong king will rule them, says the Lord God of heavenly forces.

⁵The waters of the sea will dry up;
    the river will be parched and bare.
⁶The rivers will stink;
    the streams will shrink and dry;
    reeds and rushes will decay.
⁷Grass around the Nile, the grass at the mouth of the Nile,
    and all the sown land of the Nile
    will dry up, blow away, and be no more.
⁸Those who fish will lament;
    all who cast fishhooks in the Nile will mourn,
    and those who spread nets on the water will pine away.
⁹Workers with flax will be dismayed;
    carders and weavers will grow pale.^[a]
¹⁰Makers of cloth will be crushed;
    all who earn money will become distressed.

¹¹The officials of Tanis are fools;
    the wisest of Pharaoh’s counselors give stupid advice.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
    “I’m a wise person,
    one of the ancient kings”?
¹²Where now are your wise ones?
    Let them tell you,
    let them inform you what the Lord of heavenly forces has planned concerning Egypt.
¹³The officials of Tanis have become fools;
    the princes of Memphis are deluded;
    the tribal chiefs have led Egypt astray.
¹⁴    The Lord has poured into them a spirit of confusion.
    They will make Egypt stumble in everything it does,
    just as a drunk stumbles in his vomit.
¹⁵Neither head nor tail, palm branch nor reed
    will be able to do anything for Egypt.