ישעיהו יט

The “Egypt” Pronouncement.
Mounted on a swift cloud,
GOD will come to Egypt;
Egypt’s idols shall tremble in response,
And the heart of the Egyptians shall sink within them.

“I will incite Egyptian against Egyptian:
They shall war with each other,
Neighbor with neighbor,
City with city
And kingdom with kingdom.

Egypt shall be drained of spirit,
And I will confound its plans;
So they will consult the idols and the shades
And the ghosts and the familiar spirits.

And I will place the Egyptians
At the mercy of a harsh master,
And a ruthless king shall rule them”
—declares the Sovereign, GOD of Hosts.

Water shall fail from the seas,
Rivers dry up and be parched,

Channels turn foul as they ebb,
And Egypt’s canals run dry.
Reed and rush shall decay,

And the Nile papyrus by the Nile-side
And everything sown by the Nile
Shall wither, blow away, and vanish.

The fishermen shall lament;
All who cast lines in the Nile shall mourn,
And those who spread nets on the water shall languish.

The flax workers, too, shall be dismayed,
Both carders and weavers chagrined.

Her foundations shall be crushed,
And all who make dams shall be despondent.

Utter fools are the nobles of Tanis;
The sagest of Pharaoh’s advisers
[Have made] absurd predictions.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am a scion of sages,
A scion of Kedemite kings”?

Where, indeed, are your sages?
Let them tell you, let them discover
What GOD of Hosts has planned against Egypt.

The nobles of Tanis have been fools,
The nobles of Memphis deluded;
Egypt has been led astray
By the chiefs of her tribes.

GOD has mixed within her
A spirit of distortion,
Which shall lead Egypt astray in all her undertakings
As a vomiting drunkard goes astray;

Nothing shall be achieved in Egypt
By either head or tail,
Palm branch or reed.

In that day, the Egyptians shall be like women, trembling and terrified because GOD of Hosts will raise a divine hand against them.

And the land of Judah shall also be the dread of the Egyptians; they shall quake whenever anybody mentions it to them, because of what GOD of Hosts is planning against them.

In that day, there shall be several towns in the land of Egypt speaking the language of Canaan and swearing loyalty to GOD of Hosts; one shall be called Town of Heres., “sun,” which may refer to Heliopolis, i.e., Sun City, in Egypt. Targum’s “Beth Shemesh” (cf. Jer. 43.13) has the same meaning.

In that day, there shall be an altar to GOD inside the land of Egypt and a pillar to GOD at its border.

They shall serve as a symbol and reminder of GOD of Hosts in the land of Egypt, so that when [the Egyptians] cry out to GOD against oppressors, a savior and champion will be sent to deliver them.

For the Egyptians will be made to know GOD, and the Egyptians shall acknowledge GOD in that day, and they shall serve with sacrifice and oblation and shall make vows to GOD and fulfill them.

GOD will first afflict and then heal the Egyptians: when they turn back, GOD will respond to their entreaties and heal them.

In that day, there shall be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians shall join with the Egyptians and Egyptians with the Assyrians, and then the Egyptians together with the Assyrians shall serve [GOD].

In that day, Israel shall be a third partner with Egypt and Assyria as a blessing on earth;

for GOD of Hosts will bless them, saying, “Blessed be My people Egypt, My handiwork Assyria, and My very own Israel.”