Isaiah 30:7

30:7 Egypt is totally incapable of helping. ¹ 

For this reason I call her

‘Proud one ²  who is silenced.’” ³ 

Isaiah 19:23

19:23 At that time there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will visit Egypt, and the Egyptians will visit Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. ⁴ 

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 ⁵  his hand;

the one who helps will stumble

and the one being helped will fall.

Together they will perish. ⁶ 

[30:7]  ¹ tn Heb “As for Egypt, with vanity and emptiness they help.”

[30:7]  ² 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]  ³ 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.

[19:23]  ⁴ tn The text could be translated, “and Egypt will serve Assyria” (cf. NAB), but subjugation of one nation to the other does not seem to be a theme in vv. 23-25. Rather the nations are viewed as equals before the Lord (v. 25). Therefore it is better to take אֶת (’et) in v. 23b as a preposition, “together with,” rather than the accusative sign. The names of the two countries are understood to refer by metonymy to their respective inhabitants.

[31:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “will extend”; KJV, ASV, NASB, NCV “stretch out.”

[31:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “together all of them will come to an end.”