Isaiah 19:1-6

The Lord Will Judge Egypt

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,

[19:1]  ¹ tn Heb “and the heart of Egypt melts within it.”

[19:2]  ² tn Heb I will provoke Egypt against Egypt” (NAB similar).

[19:2]  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.

[19:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the spirit of Egypt will be laid waste in its midst.”

[19:3]  ⁵ tn The verb בָּלַע (bala’, “confuse”) is a homonym of the more common בָּלַע (bala’, “swallow”); see HALOT 135 s.v. I בלע.

[19:3]  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.

[19:4]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[19:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “will dry up and be dry.” Two synonyms are joined for emphasis.

[19:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “rivers” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, CEV “streams”; TEV “channels.”

[19:6]  ¹⁰ tn The verb form appears as a Hiphil in the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a; 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.