Isaiah 19

Berean Standard Bible · Compare translations · 720 BC – 701 BC · Judah alone · Tap a verse to copy, share or highlight ·

25 verses · 643 words · ~3 min read · ~4 min listen

The Burden against Egypt

¹This is the burden against Egypt:

Behold, the Lord rides on a swift cloud;

He is coming to Egypt.

The idols of Egypt will tremble before Him,

and the hearts of the Egyptians will melt within them.

²“So I will incite Egyptian against Egyptian;

brother will fight against brother, neighbor against neighbor,

city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.

³Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be emptied out from among them,

and I will frustrate their plans,

so that they will resort to idols and spirits of the dead,

to mediums and spiritists.

⁴I will deliver the Egyptians into the hands of a harsh master,

and a fierce king will rule over them,”

declares the Lord God of Hosts.

⁵The waters of the Nile will dry up,

and the riverbed will be parched and empty.

⁶The canals will stink;

the streams of Egypt will trickle and dry up;

the reeds and rushes will wither.

⁷The bulrushes by the Nile,

by the mouth of the river,

and all the fields sown along the Nile,

will wither, blow away, and be no more.

⁸Then the fishermen will mourn,

all who cast a hook into the Nile will lament,

and those who spread nets on the waters will pine away.

⁹The workers in flax will be dismayed,

and the weavers of fine linen will turn pale.

¹⁰The workers in cloth will be dejected,

and all the hired workers will be sick at heart.

¹¹The princes of Zoan are mere fools;

Pharaohʼs wise counselors give senseless advice.

How can you say to Pharaoh,

“I am one of the wise,

a son of eastern kings”?

¹²Where are your wise men now?

Let them tell you and reveal

what the Lord of Hosts has planned against Egypt.

¹³The princes of Zoan have become fools;

the princes of Memphis are deceived.

The cornerstones of her tribes

have led Egypt astray.

¹⁴The Lord has poured into her

a spirit of confusion.

Egypt has been led astray in all she does,

as a drunkard staggers through his own vomit.

¹⁵There is nothing Egypt can do—

head or tail, palm or reed.

A Blessing upon the Earth

¹⁶In that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will tremble with fear beneath the uplifted hand of the Lord of Hosts, when He brandishes it against them. ¹⁷The land of Judah will bring terror to Egypt; whenever Judah is mentioned, Egypt will tremble over what the Lord of Hosts has planned against it.

¹⁸In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of Hosts. One of them will be called the City of the Sun.

¹⁹In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the center of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord near her border. ²⁰It will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of Hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors, He will send them a savior and defender to rescue them. ²¹The Lord will make Himself known to Egypt, and on that day Egypt will acknowledge the Lord. They will worship with sacrifices and offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and fulfill them.

²²And the Lord will strike Egypt with a plague; He will strike them but heal them. They will turn to the Lord, and He will hear their prayers and heal them.

²³In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt, and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together.

²⁴In that day Israel will join a three-party alliance with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing upon the earth. ²⁵The Lord of Hosts will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, and Israel My inheritance.”

Footnotes (3)

a v10 Or Its pillars
b v13 LXX; Hebrew Noph
c v18 Some MT manuscripts, DSS, and Vulgate; most MT manuscripts City of Destruction

Study notes on this chapter · 2

Prophecy & fulfillmentWidely held reading

Egypt torn by strife

Isaiah says God will stir Egypt against Egypt, dry up the Nile, and put the country under a hard master and a fierce king. Egypt suffered civil conflict and was conquered in turn by Assyria (671 BC), Persia (525 BC) and Alexander. Historians debate which events match the details.

When: Isaiah, c. 720–700 BC; Assyrian conquest c. 671 BC; Persian conquest 525 BC.

Original passageIsaiah 19:1–17

Ways people read this (2)

Fulfilled in Egypt's civil disputes in the late eighth century BC and the following conquests.
Some read the passage as a more general image of judgment, not tied to particular events.

Editorial note by BibleWay. Interpretations vary; dates are approximate scholarly estimates.

Prophecy & fulfillmentDebated

An altar to the LORD in Egypt

Isaiah ends his oracle against Egypt with a vision: five cities speaking the language of Canaan, an altar and pillar to the LORD in Egypt, and Egypt and Assyria joining Israel as a blessing in the midst of the earth. Readers disagree on whether this looks to Jewish communities in Egypt, to the spread of the gospel, or to a future age.

When: Isaiah, c. 700 BC.

Original passageIsaiah 19:18–25

Echoed inActs 8:26–39

Ways people read this (4)

Jewish temple at Leontopolis (founded c. 160 BC) and the Jewish community at Elephantine are proposed fulfillments.
The spread of the gospel and of Christian faith in Egypt (Coptic Christianity) and Assyria (the Church of the East).
A future time when the nations worship the LORD together (Isaiah 2:2-4, Zechariah 14:16-19).
Some critical scholars see the verses as a later addition to the oracle.