Isaiah 19:1-15

The Voice

19 A message about Egypt:
The Eternal One will come winging in to Egypt
On a swiftly moving cloud, making her idols quake.
    The Egyptians themselves will lose heart in the face of God.

Eternal One: I will subject the Egyptians to oppressive forces
        and heartless leadership of a dictator-king.
    I will make them turn against each other,
        Egyptian against Egyptian, a civil war,
    Right down to the houses within a neighborhood—
        city against city, district against district.^[a]
3     They’ll lose all courage and I’ll frustrate their plans.
        They’ll seek the advice of long dead ancestors and empty idols,
        mediums and fortune-tellers.
    But it is I who determine their fate.

^5-7 Egypt’s waterways and everything that lives in them will dry up and die—
    saltwater and fresh, standing pools and running streams will all evaporate.
All the reeds and rushes along the river’s edge will wither and die and rot away.
All the crops sown by the Nile will turn brittle and dry,
    to be blown away—completely away—by sultry winds.

⁸ Fishermen who set their lines and cast their nets into the Nile
    will languish and mourn.
⁹ Weavers who comb flax into spinning fibers
    and produce linen will be deep in despair.
¹⁰ The solid citizens of Egypt will be crushed,
    and all who work hard for a day’s wage will be deeply distressed.

¹¹ The leaders of Zoan are fools!
    And those who count themselves among the Pharaoh’s smartest counselors
Base their advice on bizarre flights of fancy.
    How can you tell Pharaoh,
“I am among the long line of Egypt’s wise and an heir of ancient kings”?
¹² I certainly don’t see any such sages. If they’re here,
    they should be able to tell you
    what the Eternal One, Commander of heavenly armies, has in store for Egypt.
¹³ The elite, the nobles from the northern delta south to bustling Memphis,
    have been overconfident, deluded fools.
These cornerstones of society have led Egypt in the wrong direction,
    and Egypt pays the price.
¹⁴ The Eternal has mixed them up and confused them.
    God has frustrated Egypt’s efforts in everything.
Weaving and sick like an everyday drunk.
¹⁵ There will be nothing left for Egypt to do.
    Nobody—no head, no tail, no noble palm, no lowly reed—
    will be able to help Egypt.