Isaiah 19

1An oracle concerning Egypt: Look, Yahweh is riding on a swift cloud and is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt tremble before him, and the heart of Egypt melts within it.

2I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian, and they will fight, each against his brother and each against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.

3The spirit of Egypt will be drained out within it, and I will confound its plans. They will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead, the mediums and the spiritists.

4I will hand the Egyptians over to a harsh master, and a fierce king will rule over them, declares the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.

5The waters of the sea will dry up, and the river will be parched and dry.

6The canals will stink; the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up; reeds and rushes will wither.

7The meadows by the Nile, at the mouth of the Nile, and all the sown fields along the Nile will dry up, blow away, and be no more.

8The fishermen will groan and mourn, all who cast hooks into the Nile; those who spread nets on the water will languish.

9Those who work with combed flax will be dismayed, and the weavers of white cloth.

10Its pillars will be crushed, and all who work for wages will be grieved at heart.

11The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools; the wisest of Pharaoh’s counselors give senseless advice. How can you say to Pharaoh, “I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings”?

12Where are your wise men now? Let them tell you and make known what Yahweh of Armies has planned against Egypt.

13The officials of Zoan have become fools; the officials of Memphis are deceived; the cornerstones of her tribes have led Egypt astray.

14Yahweh has poured into her a spirit of confusion, and they have made Egypt stagger in all that it does, as a drunkard staggers in his vomit.

15There is nothing Egypt can do, nothing that head or tail, palm branch or reed, can do.

16On that day Egypt will be like women; it will tremble with fear before the hand that Yahweh of Armies raises against it.

17The land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt; everyone to whom it is mentioned will be afraid because of the plan that Yahweh of Armies has devised against it.

18On that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to Yahweh of Armies. One of them will be called the City of Destruction.

19On that day there will be an altar to Yahweh in the middle of the land of Egypt, and a sacred pillar to Yahweh at its border.

20It will be a sign and a witness to Yahweh of Armies in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to Yahweh because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and he will rescue them.

21Yahweh will make himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know Yahweh on that day. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to Yahweh and keep them.

22Yahweh will strike Egypt, striking and healing. They will turn back to Yahweh, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them.

23On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.

24On that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth,

25whom Yahweh of Armies has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”