19:1 Here is a message about Egypt:
Look, the Lord rides on a swift-moving cloud
and approaches Egypt.
The idols of Egypt tremble before him;
the Egyptians lose their courage. 1
19:2 “I will provoke civil strife in Egypt, 2
brothers will fight with each other,
as will neighbors,
cities, and kingdoms. 3
19:3 The Egyptians will panic, 4
and I will confuse their strategy. 5
They will seek guidance from the idols and from the spirits of the dead,
from the pits used to conjure up underworld spirits, and from the magicians. 6
19:4 I will hand Egypt over to a harsh master;
a powerful king will rule over them,”
says the sovereign master, 7 the Lord who commands armies.
19:5 The water of the sea will be dried up,
and the river will dry up and be empty. 8
19:6 The canals 9 will stink; 10
the streams of Egypt will trickle and then dry up;
the bulrushes and reeds will decay,
1 tn Heb “and the heart of Egypt melts within it.”
2 tn Heb I will provoke Egypt against Egypt” (NAB similar).
3 tn Heb “and they will fight, a man against his brother, and a man against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.” Civil strife will extend all the way from the domestic level to the provincial arena.
4 tn Heb “and the spirit of Egypt will be laid waste in its midst.”
5 tn The verb בָּלַע (bala’, “confuse”) is a homonym of the more common בָּלַע (bala’, “swallow”); see HALOT 135 s.v. I בלע.
6 tn Heb “they will inquire of the idols and of the spirits of the dead and of the ritual pits and of the magicians.” Hebrew אוֹב (’ov, “ritual pit”) refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. See the note on “incantations” in 8:19.
7 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
8 tn Heb “will dry up and be dry.” Two synonyms are joined for emphasis.
9 tn Heb “rivers” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, CEV “streams”; TEV “channels.”
10 tn The verb form appears as a Hiphil in the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa; the form in MT may be a so-called “mixed form,” reflecting the Hebrew Hiphil stem and the functionally corresponding Aramaic Aphel stem. See HALOT 276 s.v. I זנח.