Isaiah 19

Environmental and Economic Calamity Isaiah 19:5–10

⁵Verse 5. The waters will fail from the sea, and the river will be wasted and become dry. ⁶Verse 6. The rivers will become foul. The streams of Egypt will be diminished and dried up. The reeds and flags will wither away. ⁷Verse 7. The meadows by the Nile, by the brink of the Nile, and all the sown fields of the Nile, will become dry, be driven away, and be no more. ⁸Verse 8. The fishermen will lament, and all those who fish in the Nile will mourn, and those who spread nets on the waters will languish. ⁹Verse 9. Moreover those who work in combed flax, and those who weave white cloth, will be confounded.

¹⁰Verse 10. The pillars will be broken in pieces. All those who work for hire will be grieved in soul.

Failure of Leadership and Wisdom Isaiah 19:11–15

¹¹Verse 11. The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish. The counsel of the wisest counselors of Pharaoh has become stupid. How do you say to Pharaoh, “I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?” ¹²Verse 12. Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you now; and let them know what Yahweh of Armies has purposed concerning Egypt. ¹³Verse 13. The princes of Zoan have become fools. The princes of Memphis are deceived. They have caused Egypt to go astray, who are the cornerstone of her tribes. ¹⁴Verse 14. Yahweh has mixed a spirit of perverseness in the middle of her; and they have caused Egypt to go astray in all of its works, like a drunken man staggers in his vomit.

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

Fears and Promise of Restoration Isaiah 19:16–22

¹⁶Verse 16. In that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will tremble and fear because of the shaking of Yahweh of Armies’s hand, which he shakes over them. ¹⁷Verse 17. The land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt. Everyone to whom mention is made of it will be afraid, because of the plans of Yahweh of Armies, which he determines against it. ¹⁸Verse 18. In that day, there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan, and swear to Yahweh of Armies. One will be called “The city of destruction.” ¹⁹Verse 19. In that day, there will be an altar to Yahweh in the middle of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to Yahweh at its border.

²⁰Verse 20. It will be for a sign and for a witness to Yahweh of Armies in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to Yahweh because of oppressors, and he will send them a savior and a defender, and he will deliver them. ²¹Verse 21. Yahweh will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know Yahweh in that day. Yes, they will worship with sacrifice and offering, and will vow a vow to Yahweh, and will perform it. ²²Verse 22. Yahweh will strike Egypt, striking and healing. They will return to Yahweh, and he will be entreated by them, and will heal them.

A New Unity Among Nations Isaiah 19:23–25

²³Verse 23. In that day there will be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria; and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. ²⁴Verse 24. In that day, Israel will be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing within the earth; ²⁵Verse 25. because Yahweh of Armies has blessed them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”