Isaías 19

PROPHECY ABOUT EGYPT

¹ Jehovah rides on a swift cloud and is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt tremble before him. The hearts of the Egyptians melt their courage fails within them.

² »I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian. Brother will fight against brother, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.

³ »The Egyptians will become discouraged. I will bring their plans to nothing. They will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead, the mediums and the spiritists.

⁴ »I will hand the Egyptians over to the power of a cruel master, and a fierce king will rule over them.« This is the declaration of Jehovah of Hosts, the Almighty.

⁵ The waters of the Nile River will dry up. The riverbed will be parched and dry.

⁶ The canals will stink. The streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up. The reeds and rushes will wither.

⁷ The plants rushes along the Nile, at the mouth of the river will wither. Every sown field along the Nile will become parched and blow away to be no more.

⁸ The fishermen will groan and lament. All who cast hooks into the Nile and throw nets on the water will be weak and sick.

⁹ Those who work with combed flax will despair. The weavers of fine linen and cotton will lose hope.

¹⁰ The workers in cloth will be dejected, and all the wage earners will be sick at heart.

¹¹ The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools. The wise counselors of Pharaoh give senseless advice. How can you say to Pharaoh: »I am one of the wise men, a disciple of the ancient kings?«

¹² Where are your wise men now? Let them show you and make known what Jehovah of Hosts has purposed plannedresolved against Egypt.

¹³ The officials of Zoan have become fools. The leaders of Memphis Noph are deceived. The cornerstones of her peoples have led Egypt astray.

¹⁴ Jehovah has poured into them a spirit of dizziness. They make Egypt stagger in all that she does, as a drunkard staggers around in his vomit.

¹⁵ There is nothing Egypt can do head or tail, palm branch or reed.

¹⁶ A time is coming when the people of Egypt will be as timid as women. They will tremble in terror when they see that Jehovah of Hosts has stretched out his hand extended His power to punish them.

¹⁷ The people of Egypt will be terrified of Judah every time they are reminded of the fate that Jehovah of Hosts has prepared for them.

¹⁸ When that time comes, the Hebrew language will be spoken in five Egyptian cities. The people there will take their oaths in the name of Jehovah of Hosts. One of the cities will be called: »City of Destruction.«

¹⁹ When that time comes, there will be an altar to Jehovah in the middle of the land of Egypt and a stone pillar dedicated to him at the Egyptian border.

²⁰ They will be a sign of the presence of Jehovah of Hosts in Egypt. When the people there are oppressed and call out to Jehovah for help, he will send someone to rescue them.

²¹ Jehovah will make himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know Jehovah in that day. They will even worship with sacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to Jehovah and perform it.

²² Jehovah will strike Egypt, striking but healing; so they will turn to Jehovah, and he will respond to them and will heal them.

²³ In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will come to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.

²⁴ In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth.

²⁵ Jehovah of Hosts has blessed, saying: Blessed is Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.