Isaiah 19:1-15
Modern English Version
An Oracle Concerning Egypt
19 The oracle of Egypt.
See, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud
and shall come into Egypt;
and the idols of Egypt shall tremble at His presence,
and the heart of Egypt shall melt in its midst.
2 I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians,
and they shall fight every one against his brother,
and every one against his neighbor,
city against city,
and kingdom against kingdom.
3 The spirit of Egypt shall be discouraged in their midst,
and I will destroy their counsel;
then they shall seek for the idols and for the charmers
and for the mediums and the sorcerers.
4 The Egyptians I will give over
into the hand of a cruel lord,
and a fierce king shall rule over them,
says the Lord, the Lord of Hosts.
5 The waters from the sea shall dry up,
and the river shall be parched and dry.
6 The canals shall emit a stench;
the streams of Egypt shall diminish and dry up;
the reeds and rushes shall wither.
7 The papyrus reeds by the brooks,
by the mouth of the brooks,
and everything sown by the brooks,
shall wither, be driven away, and be no more.
8 The fishermen also shall mourn,
and all those who cast a line into the brooks shall lament,
and those who spread nets on the waters
shall languish.
9 Moreover those who work with fine flax
and those who weave white cloth shall be humiliated;
10 and the pillars of Egypt shall be crushed.
All the hired workers shall be grieved in soul.
11 Surely the princes of Zoan are fools;
the counsel of the wise counselors of Pharaoh has become stupid.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am a son of the wise,
a son of ancient kings?”
12 Where are they? Where are your wise men?
Let them tell you now, and let them understand
what the Lord of Hosts
has purposed against Egypt.
13 The princes of Zoan have become fools;
the princes of Memphis are deceived;
they have also seduced Egypt,
even those who are the cornerstone of her tribes.
14 The Lord has mingled
a perverse spirit in her;
so they have caused Egypt to err in her every work,
as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
15 Nor shall there be any work for Egypt,
which its head or tail, its branch or bulrush, may do.
Isaiah 19:1-15
Authorized (King James) Version
19 The burden of Egypt.
Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud,
and shall come into Egypt:
and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence,
and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians:
and they shall fight every one against his brother,
and every one against his neighbour;
city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.
3 And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof;
and I will destroy the counsel thereof:
and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers,
and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.
4 And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord;
and a fierce king shall rule over them,
saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts.
5 And the waters shall fail from the sea,
and the river shall be wasted and dried up.
6 And they shall turn the rivers far away;
and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up:
the reeds and flags shall wither.
7 The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks,
and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither,
be driven away, and be no more.
8 The fishers also shall mourn,
and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament,
and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.
9 Moreover they that work in fine flax,
and they that weave networks, shall be confounded.
10 And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof,
all that make sluices and ponds for fish.
11 Surely the princes of Zoan are fools,
the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish:
how say ye unto Pharaoh,
I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?
12 Where are they? where are thy wise men?
and let them tell thee now, and let them know
what the Lord of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.
13 The princes of Zoan are become fools,
the princes of Noph are deceived;
they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof.
14 The Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof:
and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof,
as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.
15 Neither shall there be any work for Egypt,
which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.
KJV reproduced by permission of Cambridge University Press, the Crown’s patentee in the UK.