Isaiah 19

1 The word about Egypt. See, the Lord is seated on a quick-moving cloud, and is coming to Egypt: and the false gods of Egypt will be troubled at his coming, and the heart of Egypt will be turned to water.

[I received] this message [from Yahweh] about Egypt: “Listen to this! I, Yahweh, am coming to Egypt, riding on a fast-moving cloud. The idols in Egypt will tremble when [I appear], and the people of Egypt will be extremely afraid [IDM].

2 And I will send the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they will be fighting every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; town against town, and kingdom against kingdom.

I will cause the people of Egypt to fight against each other: men will fight against their brothers, neighbors will fight against each other, people of one city will fight against the people of another city, people of one province will fight against the people of another province.

3 And the spirit of Egypt will be troubled in her, and I will make her decisions without effect: and they will be turning to the false gods, and to those who make hollow sounds, and to those who have control of spirits, and to those who are wise in secret arts.

The people of Egypt will become very discouraged, and I will cause their plans not to be successful. They will plead with idols and sorcerers and those who talk with spirits of dead people to tell them what they should do.

4 And I will give the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel lord; and a hard king will be their ruler, says the Lord, the Lord of armies.

Then I will enable someone who will treat them very cruelly to become their king [DOU].” That is what I, the Commander of the armies of angels, say.

5 And the waters of the sea will be cut off, and the river will become dry and waste:

[Some day] the water in the [Nile] River will dry up, and the riverbed will become very dry [DOU].

6 And the rivers will have an evil smell; the stream of Egypt will become small and dry: all the water-plants will come to nothing.

The branches of the river will all dry up [DOU] The canals along the river will stink because of the rotting reeds and (bulrushes/tall grass).

7 The grass-lands by the Nile, and everything planted by the Nile, will become dry, or taken away by the wind, and will come to an end.

All the plants along the river and all the crops will dry up; then they will blow away and disappear.

8 The fishermen will be sad, and all those who put fishing-lines into the Nile will be full of grief, and those whose nets are stretched out on the waters will have sorrow in their hearts.

The fishermen will throw into the river lines with hooks on them and nets, and then they will groan and be very discouraged; they will be sad [because there will be no fish in the river].

9 And all the workers in linen thread, and those who make cotton cloth, will be put to shame.

Those who weave cloth from flax will not know what to do, because there will be no thread for them to weave.

10 And the makers of twisted thread will be crushed, and those who ... will be sad in heart.

They will all despair and be very discouraged.

11 The chiefs of Zoan are completely foolish; the wisest guides of Pharaoh have become like beasts: how do you say to Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the offspring of early kings?

The officials in Zoan [city in northern Egypt] are foolish. The advice that they gave to the king was worthless. Why do they continue to tell the king that they are wise, that they are descendants of wise kings who lived long ago [RHQ]?

12 Where, then, are your wise men? let them make clear to you, let them give you knowledge of the purpose of the Lord of armies for Egypt.

King, (where are your wise counselors now?/You have no wise counselors now!) [RHQ] If you had any wise counselors, they could tell you what the Commander of the armies of angels has planned to do to Egypt [SAR]!

13 The chiefs of Zoan have become foolish, the chiefs of Noph are tricked, the heads of her tribes are the cause of Egypt's wandering out of the way.

[Yes], the officials of Zoan have become foolish, and the leaders in Memphis [city in northern Egypt] have deceived themselves. [All] leaders of the people have (caused their people to do wrong things/led their people astray).

14 The Lord has sent among them a spirit of error: and by them Egypt is turned out of the right way in all her doings, as a man overcome by wine is uncertain in his steps.

Yahweh has caused them to be very foolish, with the result that in everything that they do, [it is as though the people of] Egypt stagger like [SIM] a drunken person staggers [and slips] in his own vomit.

15 And in Egypt there will be no work for any man, head or tail, high or low, to do.

There is no one in Egypt, rich or poor, important or unimportant, [who will be able to help them].

16 In that day the Egyptians will be like women: and the land will be shaking with fear because of the waving of the Lord's hand stretched out over it.

At that time, the people of Egypt will be [as helpless] as [SIM] women. They will tremble, being terrified [because they know that] the Commander of the armies of angels has raised his fist, [ready to strike/punish them].

17 And the land of Judah will become a cause of great fear to Egypt; whenever its name comes to mind, Egypt will be in fear before the Lord of armies because of his purpose against it.

The people of Egypt will be afraid of the people of Judah, and anyone who mentions Judah to them will cause them to be terrified, because [that will remind them] of what Yahweh, the Commander of the armies of angels, is planning to do to them.

18 In that day there will be five towns in the land of Egypt using the language of Canaan, and making oaths to the Lord of armies; and one of them will be named, The Town of the Sun.

At that time, [people in] five cities in Egypt will solemnly declare that they will serve Yahweh. They will [learn to] speak the Hebrew language. One of those cities will be called ‘City of the Sun’.

19 In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the middle of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at the edge of the land.

At that time, there will be an altar for worshiping Yahweh in the center of Egypt, and there will be a (pillar/large rock) to honor Yahweh at the border [between Egypt and Israel].

20 And it will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of armies in the land of Egypt: when they are crying out to the Lord because of their cruel masters, then he will send them a saviour and a strong one to make them free.

That will be a sign to indicate that the Commander of the armies of angels is worshiped in the land of Egypt. And when the people cry out to Yahweh to help them because others are (oppressing them/causing them to suffer), he will send to them someone who will defend and rescue them.

21 And the Lord will give the knowledge of himself to Egypt, and the Egyptians will give honour to the Lord in that day; they will give him worship with offerings and meal offerings, and will take an oath to the Lord and give effect to it.

Yahweh will enable the people of Egypt to know who he is, and at that time they will have a close relationship with Yahweh and worship him and bring to him offerings of grain and other sacrifices. They will solemnly promise to do things for Yahweh, and they will do what they promise.

22 And the Lord will send punishment on Egypt, and will make them well again; and when they come back to the Lord he will give ear to their prayer and take away their disease.

After Yahweh has punished Egypt, he will cause their troubles to end. The people of Egypt will turn to Yahweh, and he will listen when they plead to him [for help], and he will cause their troubles to cease.

23 In that day there will be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt will come into Assyria; and the Egyptians will give worship to the Lord together with the Assyrians.

At that time, there will be a highway between Egypt and Assyria. [As a result], the people of Egypt will [be able to] travel [easily] to Assyria, and the people of Assyria [will be able to travel easily] to Egypt. And the people of both countries will worship [Yahweh].

24 In that day Israel will be the third together with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the earth:

And Israel will be their ally. All three nations will be [friendly to] each other, and the people of Israel will be a blessing to the people of the entire world.

25 Because of the blessing of the Lord of armies which he has given them, saying, A blessing on Egypt my people, and on Assyria the work of my hands, and on Israel my heritage.

The Commander of the armies of angels will bless them, saying, “[You people of] Egypt are now my people. You people of Assyria, I have established your country. You people of Israel are the people whom I have chosen to belong to me.”