Isaiah 19 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

An Oracle Concerning Egypt

Isa 19:1An oracle concerning Egypt.
Behold, the LORD is riding on a swift cloud
and comes to Egypt;
and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence,
and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.

Isa 19:2

Isa 19:2And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,
and they will fight, each against another
and each against his neighbor,
city against city, kingdom against kingdom;

Isa 19:3

Isa 19:3and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out,
and I will confound[fn] their counsel;
and they will inquire of the idols and the sorcerers,
and the mediums and the necromancers;

Isa 19:4

Isa 19:4and I will give over the Egyptians
into the hand of a hard master,
and a fierce king will rule over them,
declares the Lord GOD of hosts.

Isa 19:5

Isa 19:5And the waters of the sea will be dried up,
and the river will be dry and parched,

Isa 19:6

Isa 19:6and its canals will become foul,
and the branches of Egypt’s Nile will diminish and dry up,
reeds and rushes will rot away.

Isa 19:7

Isa 19:7There will be bare places by the Nile,
on the brink of the Nile,
and all that is sown by the Nile will be parched,
will be driven away, and will be no more.

Isa 19:8

Isa 19:8The fishermen will mourn and lament,
all who cast a hook in the Nile;
and they will languish
who spread nets on the water.

Isa 19:9

Isa 19:9The workers in combed flax will be in despair,
and the weavers of white cotton.

Isa 19:10

Isa 19:10Those who are the pillars of the land will be crushed,
and all who work for pay will be grieved.

Isa 19:11

Isa 19:11The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish;
the wisest counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am a son of the wise,
a son of ancient kings”?

Isa 19:12

Isa 19:12Where then are your wise men?
Let them tell you
that they might know what the LORD of hosts has purposed against Egypt.

Isa 19:13

Isa 19:13The princes of Zoan have become fools,
and the princes of Memphis are deluded;
those who are the cornerstones of her tribes
have made Egypt stagger.

Isa 19:14

Isa 19:14The LORD has mingled within her a spirit of confusion,
and they will make Egypt stagger in all its deeds,
as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.

Isa 19:15

Isa 19:15And there will be nothing for Egypt
that head or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.

Egypt, Assyria, Israel Blessed

Isa 19:16

Isa 19:16In that day the Egyptians will be like women, and tremble with fear before the hand that the LORD of hosts shakes over them.

Isa 19:17

Isa 19:17And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians. Everyone to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the purpose that the LORD of hosts has purposed against them.

Isa 19:18

Isa 19:18In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD of hosts. One of these will be called the City of Destruction.[fn]

Isa 19:19

Isa 19:19In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD at its border.

Isa 19:20

Isa 19:20It will be a sign and a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry to the LORD because of oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and deliver them.

Isa 19:21

Isa 19:21And the LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day and worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make vows to the LORD and perform them.

Isa 19:22

Isa 19:22And the LORD will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the LORD, and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them.

Isa 19:23

Isa 19:23In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.

Isa 19:24

Isa 19:24In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth,

Isa 19:25

Isa 19:25whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”

See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

ESV Footnotes

(19:3)

Or I will swallow up

(19:18)

Dead Sea Scroll and some other manuscripts City of the Sun

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