Isaiah 19

This is the message about Egypt. Look: the LORD is riding on a fast-moving cloud, and he is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt will shake in front of him, and the courage of Egypt will melt away inside her.

1The 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.

Note"Burden" renders a Hebrew word meaning both a load that is carried and a formal pronouncement; in Isaiah it labels an oracle spoken against a nation. Riding on the clouds was standard ancient Near Eastern language for a god arriving in power, the same picture Egyptians and Canaanites used of their own gods.

2"I will turn the Egyptians against each other. Brother will fight brother, and neighbor will fight neighbor. City will fight city, and kingdom will fight kingdom.

2And 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.

NoteEgypt was repeatedly split between rival dynasties ruling different stretches of the Nile. "Kingdom against kingdom" pictures one country breaking into competing regions, not war with foreign states.

3The spirit of Egypt will drain away from inside her, and I will ruin her plans. So the people will go looking for answers from idols, from spirits of the dead, from mediums, and from those who talk with spirits.

3And 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.

NoteThe word translated "spirit" means breath, wind, or spirit, and is used of a person's or a nation's nerve and resolve; here Egypt's drains out of her. Egypt was famous across the ancient world for its magicians and for consulting the dead. The verse lists four kinds of specialist, and the precise difference between them is no longer recoverable.

4I will hand the Egyptians over to a harsh master, and a fierce king will rule them." This is what the Lord says, the LORD who commands the armies of heaven.

4And 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.

NoteWhere the King James prints LORD in capitals it stands for the personal name of Israel's God, which Jews did not pronounce aloud; "of hosts" means "of armies," the forces at his command. The Hebrew behind "a cruel lord" is plural, harsh masters, and Isaiah never says who is meant.

5The waters of the Nile will fail, and the riverbed will be parched and dry.

5And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.

NoteThe Hebrew calls the Nile "the sea" because of its breadth. Egypt's entire food supply depended on the river's annual flood, so a failing Nile meant famine, not inconvenience.

6The rivers will turn foul, and Egypt's canals will sink low and dry up. The reeds and the marsh plants will wither.

6And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither.

Note"Brooks of defence" is the King James translators' attempt at a Hebrew phrase now generally read as "the canals of Egypt", the irrigation channels dug off the river to water the fields.

7The papyrus reeds along the Nile, at the mouth of the river, and every crop planted beside the river will dry up, blow away, and be gone.

7The 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.

Note"Paper reeds" are papyrus, the tall marsh plant from which Egypt manufactured the ancient world's writing material and exported it widely.

8The fishermen will mourn. Everyone who casts a hook into the Nile will cry out, and those who spread nets on the water will waste away.

8The 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.

9The people who work with fine flax will be dismayed, and the weavers of fine white cloth will lose hope.

9Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave networks, shall be confounded.

NoteFlax is the plant linen is made from. Egyptian linen was famous and a major export; this describes an industry collapsing, not household work.

10The plans of those who build the pools and fish ponds will be shattered, and all who work for wages will be sick at heart.

10And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish.

NoteThis is one of the hardest verses in the chapter. The Hebrew words can be read as pillars or foundations, or as dams and fish pools; the last group can be the hired workmen or everyone who earns a living. Translations differ widely, and the rendering here picks one of several defensible readings.

11The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools. Pharaoh's wise advisers give stupid advice. How can you say to Pharaoh, "I come from a line of wise men, from kings of long ago"?

11Surely 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?

NoteZoan is Tanis, a city in the Nile Delta that served at times as Egypt's royal capital. Egypt's "wise men" were its court advisers, scribes and priests, proverbial throughout the ancient world for learning. The boast in the last line is ambiguous in Hebrew: it can mean descent from kings of long ago, or from eastern kings.

12Where are they now? Where are your wise men? Let them tell you what the LORD of the armies of heaven has decided to do to Egypt.

12Where 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.

13The officials of Zoan have turned into fools. The officials of Noph have been fooled. The very men who are the cornerstones of Egypt's tribes have led her off course.

13The 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.

NoteNoph is Memphis, the ancient capital of lower Egypt, just south of modern Cairo. "Cornerstones" is a building term applied to leading men, the stones the whole structure rests on. Egypt was administered in provincial districts, which the Hebrew here calls tribes.

14The LORD has poured a spirit of confusion into her. They have made Egypt stagger in everything she does, the way a drunk man staggers around in his own vomit.

14The 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.

NoteThe word for "spirit" is the same one used in verse 3; here it means a spirit of dizziness or reeling, the lurching of someone too drunk to walk straight.

15There is nothing left that Egypt can do, whether by head or tail, palm branch or reed.

15Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.

NoteHead and tail, palm branch and reed are a proverbial pair for the top and bottom of a society: the palm frond stands high, the marsh reed low. Isaiah uses the same figure earlier of Israel's own leaders.

16On that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will shake with fear at the sight of the LORD of the armies of heaven raising his hand and swinging it over them.

16In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which he shaketh over it.

NoteCalling fighting men "women" was a standard ancient taunt for an army that has lost its nerve; it is about fear, not about women. The raised, shaking hand is the gesture of someone drawing back to strike.

17The land of Judah will be a terror to Egypt. Anyone who so much as mentions Judah will be filled with fear, because of what the LORD of the armies of heaven has decided to do to Egypt.

17And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, every one that maketh mention thereof shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the LORD of hosts, which he hath determined against it.

NoteJudah was a small kingdom of almost no military weight beside Egypt, which is what makes the picture of Egypt flinching at its name a reversal of the normal order of things.

18On that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and will swear loyalty to the LORD of the armies of heaven. One of them will be called the City of Destruction.

18In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the LORD of hosts; one shall be called, The city of destruction.

Note"The language of Canaan" means Hebrew, the speech of Israel and its immediate neighbors. To "swear to" the LORD is to take a binding oath of allegiance, the ancient way of declaring which side you are on. The name of the fifth city is genuinely uncertain: some Hebrew manuscripts read 'ir ha-heres, City of Destruction, and others 'ir ha-cheres, City of the Sun, which would be Heliopolis, the center of Egyptian sun worship. A single letter separates the two.

19On that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the middle of the land of Egypt, and a stone pillar set up to the LORD at Egypt's border.

19In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the LORD.

NoteA pillar here is an upright standing stone. Such stones were set up all over the ancient world to mark a border or record a claim, and Egypt in particular planted inscribed stones at its frontiers.

20It will stand as a sign and a witness to the LORD of the armies of heaven in the land of Egypt. When the people cry out to the LORD because of those who crush them, he will send them a rescuer, a mighty one, and he will save them.

20And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the LORD because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them.

Note"A saviour, and a great one": the second word means a defender or champion, the same kind of term used of the leaders who rescued Israel from its enemies in the book of Judges.

21The LORD will make himself known to Egypt, and on that day the Egyptians will know the LORD. They will bring animal sacrifices and grain offerings. They will make promises to the LORD and keep them.

21And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the LORD, and perform it.

NoteA vow was a formal promise to give God something specific (a sacrifice, a gift, a payment) usually in return for help asked for. Making one and then failing to carry it out was treated as a serious offense.

22The LORD will strike Egypt. He will strike her and then heal her. They will turn back to the LORD, and he will listen to their pleas and heal them.

22And the LORD shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the LORD, and he shall be intreated of them, and shall heal them.

NoteThe verb behind "smite" is the one used of the plagues sent on Egypt in Exodus, and Isaiah's hearers would have caught the echo. "Intreated" in 1611 English means to be responsive to a plea, not to beg.

23On that day there will be a road running from Egypt to Assyria. Assyrians will travel into Egypt and Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians and the Assyrians will worship together.

23In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.

NoteOne great trade and army route ran from Egypt up the coast and on to Mesopotamia, with Judah sitting on it between the two empires; armies of both had marched it. The Hebrew verb translated "serve" means both to work for and to worship, so the last clause can be read either as Egypt and Assyria serving alongside one another or as the two worshiping together.

24On that day Israel will be the third one, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the middle of the land.

24In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land:

Note"The third" means the third partner alongside the other two. The Hebrew word for "land" also means "earth," so the closing phrase can be read as a blessing in the middle of that region or as a blessing to the whole earth.

25The LORD of the armies of heaven will bless them and say, "Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my own possession."

25Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.

Note"Inheritance" translates a word for a permanently allotted portion of property, especially land passed down within a family. It is the term normally used of the territory given to Israel; here it is used of the people themselves.