Isaiah 20:5-6

20:5 Those who put their hope in Cush and took pride in Egypt will be afraid and embarrassed. ¹  20:6 At that time ²  those who live on this coast ³  will say, ‘Look what has happened to our source of hope to whom we fled for help, expecting to be rescued from the king of Assyria! How can we escape now?’”

Isaiah 30:1-7

Egypt Will Prove Unreliable

30:1 “The rebellious ⁴  children are as good as dead,” ⁵  says the Lord,

“those who make plans without consulting me, ⁶ 

who form alliances without consulting my Spirit, ⁷ 

and thereby compound their sin. ⁸ 

30:2 They travel down to Egypt

without seeking my will, ⁹ 

seeking Pharaoh’s protection,

and looking for safety in Egypt’s protective shade. ¹⁰ 

30:3 But Pharaoh’s protection will bring you nothing but shame,

and the safety of Egypt’s protective shade nothing but humiliation.

30:4 Though his ¹¹  officials are in Zoan

and his messengers arrive at Hanes, ¹² 

30:5 all will be put to shame ¹³ 

because of a nation that cannot help them,

who cannot give them aid or help,

but only shame and disgrace.”

30:6 This is a message ¹⁴  about the animals in the Negev:

Through a land of distress and danger,

inhabited by lionesses and roaring lions, ¹⁵ 

by snakes and darting adders, ¹⁶ 

they transport ¹⁷  their wealth on the backs of donkeys,

their riches on the humps of camels,

to a nation that cannot help them. ¹⁸ 

30:7 Egypt is totally incapable of helping. ¹⁹ 

For this reason I call her

‘Proud one ²⁰  who is silenced.’” ²¹ 

Isaiah 31:3

31:3 The Egyptians are mere humans, not God;

their horses are made of flesh, not spirit.

The Lord will strike with ²²  his hand;

the one who helps will stumble

and the one being helped will fall.

Together they will perish. ²³ 

Isaiah 31:2

31:2 Yet he too is wise ²⁴  and he will bring disaster;

he does not retract his decree. ²⁵ 

He will attack the wicked nation, ²⁶ 

and the nation that helps ²⁷  those who commit sin. ²⁸ 

Isaiah 17:4

17:4 “At that time ²⁹ 

Jacob’s splendor will be greatly diminished, ³⁰ 

and he will become skin and bones. ³¹ 

Isaiah 18:1

The Lord Will Judge a Distant Land in the South

18:1 The land of buzzing wings is as good as dead, ³² 

the one beyond the rivers of Cush,

Jeremiah 37:5-8

37:5 At that time the Babylonian forces ³³  had temporarily given up their siege against Jerusalem. ³⁴  They had had it under siege, but withdrew when they heard that the army of Pharaoh had set out from Egypt. ³⁵ ) 37:6 The Lord gave the prophet Jeremiah a message for them. He told him to tell them, ³⁶  37:7 “The Lord God of Israel says, ‘Give a message to the king of Judah who sent you to ask me to help him. ³⁷  Tell him, “The army of Pharaoh that was on its way to help you will go back home to Egypt. ³⁸  37:8 Then the Babylonian forces ³⁹  will return. They will attack the city and will capture it and burn it down.

Ezekiel 29:6-7

29:6 Then all those living in Egypt will know that I am the Lord

because they were a reed staff ⁴⁰  for the house of Israel;

29:7 when they grasped you with their hand, ⁴¹  you broke and tore ⁴²  their shoulders,

and when they leaned on you, you splintered and caused their legs to be unsteady. ⁴³ 

[20:5]  ¹ tn Heb “and they will be afraid and embarrassed because of Cush their hope and Egypt their beauty.”

[20:6]  ² tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV).

[20:6]  ³ sn This probably refers to the coastal region of Philistia (cf. TEV).

[30:1]  ⁴ tn Or “stubborn” (NCV); cf. NIV “obstinate.”

[30:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “Woe [to] rebellious children.”

[30:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “making a plan, but not from me.”

[30:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “and pouring out a libation, but not [from] my spirit.” This translation assumes that the verb נָסַךְ (nasakh) means “pour out,” and that the cognate noun מַסֵּכָה (massekhah) means “libation.” In this case “pouring out a libation” alludes to a ceremony that formally ratifies an alliance. Another option is to understand the verb נָסַךְ as a homonym meaning “weave,” and the cognate noun מַסֵּכָה as a homonym meaning “covering.” In this case forming an alliance is likened to weaving a garment.

[30:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “consequently adding sin to sin.”

[30:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “those who go to descend to Egypt, but [of] my mouth they do not inquire.”

[30:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to seek protection in the protection of Pharaoh, and to seek refuge in the shade of Egypt.”

[30:4]  ¹¹ sn This probably refers to Judah’s officials and messengers.

[30:4]  ¹² sn Zoan was located in the Egyptian delta in the north; Hanes was located somewhere in southern region of lower Egypt, south of Memphis; the exact location is debated.

[30:5]  ¹³ tn The present translation follows the marginal (Qere) reading of the Hebrew text; the consonantal text (Kethib) has “made to stink, decay.”

[30:6]  ¹⁴ tn Traditionally, “burden” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “oracle.”

[30:6]  ¹⁵ tc Heb “[a land of] a lioness and a lion, from them.” Some emend מֵהֶם (mehem, “from them”) to מֵהֵם (mehem), an otherwise unattested Hiphil participle from הָמַם (hamam, “move noisily”). Perhaps it would be better to take the initial mem (מ) as enclitic and emend the form to הֹמֶה (homeh), a Qal active participle from הָמָה (hamah, “to make a noise”); cf. J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:542, n. 9.

[30:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “flying fiery one.” See the note at 14:29.

[30:6]  ¹⁷ tn Or “carry” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[30:6]  ¹⁸ sn This verse describes messengers from Judah transporting wealth to Egypt in order to buy Pharaoh’s protection through a treaty.

[30:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “As for Egypt, with vanity and emptiness they help.”

[30:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Rahab” (רַהַב, rahav), which also appears as a name for Egypt in Ps 87:4. The epithet is also used in the OT for a mythical sea monster symbolic of chaos. See the note at 51:9. A number of English versions use the name “Rahab” (e.g., ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV) while others attempt some sort of translation (cf. CEV “a helpless monster”; TEV, NLT “the Harmless Dragon”).

[30:7]  ²¹ tn The MT reads “Rahab, they, sitting.” The translation above assumes an emendation of הֵם שָׁבֶת (hem shavet) to הַמָּשְׁבָּת (hammashbat), a Hophal participle with prefixed definite article, meaning “the one who is made to cease,” i.e., “destroyed,” or “silenced.” See HALOT 444-45 s.v. ישׁב.

[31:3]  ²² tn Heb “will extend”; KJV, ASV, NASB, NCV “stretch out.”

[31:3]  ²³ tn Heb “together all of them will come to an end.”

[31:2]  ²⁴ sn This statement appears to have a sarcastic tone. The royal advisers who are advocating an alliance with Egypt think they are wise, but the Lord possesses wisdom as well and will thwart their efforts.

[31:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and he does not turn aside [i.e., “retract”] his words”; NIV “does not take back his words.”

[31:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and he will arise against the house of the wicked.”

[31:2]  ²⁷ sn That is, Egypt.

[31:2]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and against the help of the doers of sin.”

[17:4]  ²⁹ tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[17:4]  ³⁰ tn Heb “will be tiny.”

[17:4]  ³¹ tn Heb “and the fatness of his flesh will be made lean.”

[18:1]  ³² tn Heb “Woe [to] the land of buzzing wings.” On הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) see the note on the first phrase of 1:4.

[37:5]  ³³ tn Heb “the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for the rendering “Babylonian.” The word “forces” is supplied in the translation here for the sake of clarity.

[37:5]  ³⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[37:5]  ³⁵ tn Heb “And the army of Pharaoh had set out from Egypt and the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard a report about them and they went up from besieging them.” The sentence has been restructured and reworded to give greater emphasis to the most pertinent fact, i.e., that the siege had been temporarily lifted. The word “temporarily” is not in the text but is implicit from the rest of the context. It is supplied in the translation here to better show that the information in vv. 4-5 is all parenthetical, providing a background for the oracle that will follow. For the meaning “given up their siege against” (Heb “had taken themselves away from against”) see BDB 749 s.v. עָלָה Niph.1.c(2); 759 s.v. עַל IV.2.b.

[37:6]  ³⁶ tn Heb “And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying.”

[37:7]  ³⁷ tn Or “to ask me what will happen.” The dominant usage of the verb דָּרַשׁ (darash) is to “inquire” in the sense of gaining information about what will happen (cf., e.g., 1 Kgs 14:5; 2 Kgs 8:8; 22:7-8) but it is also used in the sense of “seeking help” from (cf., e.g., Isa 31:1; 2 Chr 16:12; 20:3). The latter nuance appears appropriate in Jer 20:2 where Zedekiah is hoping for some miraculous intervention. That nuance also appears appropriate here where Zedekiah has sent messengers to ask Jeremiah to intercede on their behalf. However, it is also possible that the intent of both verbs is to find out from God whether the Egyptian mission will succeed and more permanent relief from the siege will be had.

[37:7]  ³⁸ tn Heb “will go back to its land, Egypt.”

[37:8]  ³⁹ tn Heb “the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for the rendering “Babylonian.” The word “forces” is supplied in the translation here for the sake of clarity.

[29:6]  ⁴⁰ sn Compare Isa 36:6.

[29:7]  ⁴¹ tn The Hebrew consonantal text (Kethib) has “by your hand,” but the marginal reading (Qere) has simply “by the hand.” The LXX reads “with their hand.”

[29:7]  ⁴² tn Or perhaps “dislocated.”

[29:7]  ⁴³ tn Heb “you caused to stand for them all their hips.” An emendation which switches two letters but is supported by the LXX yields the reading “you caused all their hips to shake.” See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:103. In 2 Kgs 18:21 and Isa 36:6 trusting in the Pharaoh is compared to leaning on a staff. The oracle may reflect Hophra’s attempt to aid Jerusalem (Jer 37:5-8).