Isaiah 19

¹ Oracle against Egypt: See! Yahweh riding a swift cloud comes to Egypt. The idols of Egypt tremble before him, and the hearts of the Egyptians sink within them.

² I will stir up the Egyptians against each other and they shall fight every man against his brother, friend against friend, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.

³ Egypt is going to be demoralised, for I shall confound all their wits. They will consult idols and wizards, necromancers and sorcerers.

⁴ I mean to hand the Egyptians over to a hard master; a cruel king will rule them. It is Yahweh Sabaoth who speaks.

⁵ The waters will ebb from the Nile, the river bed be parched and dry,

⁶ the canals grow foul, the Niles of Egypt sink and dry up.

⁷ Rush and reed will droop, the plants on the banks of the Nile; all the Nile vegetation will dry up, blow away, and be seen no more.

⁸ The fishermen will groan, all who cast hook in the Nile will mourn; those who throw nets on the waters will lament.

⁹ The flax workers will be baffled, the carders too, and weavers of white cloth.

¹⁰ The weavers will be dismayed and all the workmen dejected.

¹¹ The princes of Zoan are utter fools, and Pharaoh’s wisest counsellors are stupid; how can you say to Pharaoh, ‘I am a disciple of the sages. a disciple of bygone kings’?

¹² Where are these sages of yours? Let them come forward now, let them explain to you what Yahweh Sabaoth has decided to do with Egypt.

¹³ The princes of Zoan are fools, the princes of Noph,[*b] self-deceivers; Egypt is led astray by the governors of her provinces.

¹⁴ On them Yahweh has poured out a spirit of giddiness. They have Egypt slithering in all she undertakes as a drunkard slithers in his vomit.

¹⁵ And Egypt will never succeed in anything undertaken by head or by tail, by palm or reed.

¹⁶ That day, the Egyptians will become like women, fearful, terrified, when they see the uplifted hand that Yahweh Sabaoth will raise against them.

¹⁷ The land of Judah will become the terror of Egypt. Whenever Egypt is reminded of this, she will be terrified, because of the fate Yahweh Sabaoth has prepared for her.

¹⁸ That day, in the land of Egypt there will be five towns speaking the language of Canaan and swearing oaths in the name of Yahweh Sabaoth; Ir Haheres will be one of them.

¹⁹ That day, there will be an altar to Yahweh in the centre of the land of Egypt and, close to the frontier, a pillar to Yahweh,

²⁰ which will be both sign and witness of Yahweh Sabaoth in the land of Egypt. When in oppression the Egyptians cry to Yahweh he will send them a saviour to protect and deliver them.

²¹ Yahweh will reveal himself to them, and that day the Egyptians will acknowledge Yahweh and worship him with sacrifices and offerings. They will make vows to Yahweh and perform them.

²² Then, though Yahweh has struck the Egyptians harshly, he will heal them. They will turn to Yahweh who will listen to them and heal them.

²³ That day, there will be a road from Egypt to Assyria. Assyria will have access to Egypt and Egypt have access to Assyria. Egypt will serve Assyria.

²⁴ That day, Israel, making the third with Egypt and Assyria, will be blessed in the centre of the world.

²⁵ Yahweh Sabaoth will give his blessing in the words, ‘Blessed be my people Egypt, Assyria my creation, and Israel my heritage’.