Isaiah 19
19
God’s Message to Egypt
1This is a message about Egypt:
Look, the Lord is coming on a fast cloud
to enter Egypt.
The idols of Egypt will tremble before him,
and Egypt’s courage will melt away.
2The Lord says, “I will cause the Egyptians to fight against themselves.
People will fight with their relatives;
neighbors will fight neighbors;
cities will fight cities;
kingdoms will fight kingdoms.
3The Egyptians will be afraid,
and I will ruin their plans.
They will ask advice from their idols and spirits of the dead,
from their mediums and fortune-tellers.”
4The Lord God All-Powerful says,
“I will hand Egypt over to a hard master,
and a powerful king will rule over them.”
5The sea will become dry,
and the water will disappear from the Nile River.
6The canals will stink;
the streams of Egypt will decrease and dry up.
All the water plants will rot;
7all the plants along the banks of the Nile will die.
Even the planted fields by the Nile
will dry up, blow away, and disappear.
8The fishermen, all those who catch fish from the Nile,
will groan and cry;
those who fish in the Nile will be sad.
9All the people who make cloth from flax will be sad,
and those who weave linen will lose hope.
10Those who weave cloth will be broken.
All those who work for money will be sad.
11The officers of the city of Zoan are fools;
the wise men who advise the king of Egypt give wrong advice.
How can you say to him, ‘I am wise’?
How can you say, ‘I am from the old family of the kings’?
12Egypt, where are your wise men?
Let them show you
what the Lord All-Powerful has planned for Egypt.
13The officers of Zoan have been fooled;
the leaders of Memphis have believed false things.
So the leaders of Egypt
lead that nation the wrong way.
14The Lord has made the leaders confused.
They have led Egypt to wander in the wrong ways,
like drunk people stumbling in their own vomit.
15There is nothing Egypt can do;
no one there can help.
16In that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will be afraid of the Lord All-Powerful, because he will raise his hand to strike them down. 17The land of Judah will bring fear to Egypt. Anyone there who hears the name Judah will be afraid, because the Lord All-Powerful has planned terrible things for them. 18At that time five cities in Egypt will speak Hebrew, the language of Canaan, and they will promise to be loyal to the Lord All-Powerful. One of these cities will be named the City of Destruction. 19At that time there will be an altar for the Lord in the middle of Egypt and a monument to the Lord at the border of Egypt. 20This will be a sign and a witness to the Lord All-Powerful in the land of Egypt. When the people cry to the Lord for help, he will send someone to save and defend them. He will rescue them from those who hurt them.
21So the Lord will show himself to the Egyptians, and then they will know he is the Lord. They will worship God and offer many sacrifices. They will make promises to the Lord and will keep them. 22The Lord will punish the Egyptians, but then he will heal them. They will come back to the Lord, and he will listen to their prayers and heal them.
23At that time there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will go to Egypt, and the Egyptians will go to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship God together. 24At that time Israel, Assyria, and Egypt will join together, which will be a blessing for the earth. 25The Lord All-Powerful will bless them, saying, “Egypt, you are my people. Assyria, I made you. Israel, I own you. You are all blessed!”
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Isaiah 19: NCV
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 19
19
God will Punish Egypt
1 #
Jer 46.2–26; Ezek 29.1—32.32 This is a message about Egypt.
The LORD is coming to Egypt, riding swiftly on a cloud. The Egyptian idols tremble before him, and the people of Egypt lose their courage. 2The LORD says, “I will stir up civil war in Egypt and turn brother against brother and neighbour against neighbour. Rival cities will fight each other, and rival kings will struggle for power. 3I am going to frustrate the plans of the Egyptians and destroy their morale. They will ask their idols to help them, and they will go and consult mediums and ask the spirits of the dead for advice. 4I will hand the Egyptians over to a tyrant, to a cruel king who will rule them. I, the LORD Almighty, have spoken.”
5The water will be low in the Nile, and the river will gradually dry up. 6The channels of the river will stink as they slowly go dry. Reeds and rushes will wither, 7and all the crops sown along the banks of the Nile will dry up and be blown away. 8Everyone who earns his living by fishing in the Nile will groan and cry; their hooks and their nets will be useless. 9Those who make linen cloth will be in despair; 10weavers and skilled workers will be broken and depressed.
11The leaders of the city of Zoan are fools! Egypt's wisest people give stupid advice! How dare they tell the king that they are successors to the ancient scholars and kings? 12King of Egypt, where are those clever advisers of yours? Perhaps they can tell you what plans the LORD Almighty has for Egypt. 13The leaders of Zoan and Memphis are fools. They were supposed to lead the nation, but they have misled it. 14The LORD has made them give confusing advice. As a result, Egypt does everything wrong and staggers like a drunken man slipping on his own vomit. 15No one in Egypt, rich or poor, important or unknown, can offer help.
Egypt will Worship the LORD
16A time is coming when the people of Egypt will be as timid as women. They will tremble in terror when they see that the LORD Almighty has stretched out his hand to punish them. 17The people of Egypt will be terrified of Judah every time they are reminded of the fate that the LORD Almighty has prepared for them.
18When that time comes, the Hebrew language will be spoken in five Egyptian cities. The people there will take their oaths in the name of the LORD Almighty. One of the cities will be called, “City of the Sun”.
19When that time comes, there will be an altar to the LORD in the land of Egypt and a stone pillar dedicated to him at the Egyptian border. 20They will be symbols of the LORD Almighty's presence in Egypt. When the people there are oppressed and call out to the LORD for help, he will send someone to rescue them. 21The LORD will reveal himself to the Egyptian people, and then they will acknowledge and worship him, and bring him sacrifices and offerings. They will make solemn promises to him and do what they promise. 22The LORD will punish the Egyptians, but then he will heal them. They will turn to him, and he will hear their prayers and heal them.
23When that time comes, there will be a highway between Egypt and Assyria. The people of those two countries will travel to and fro between them, and the two nations will worship together. 24When that time comes, Israel will rank with Egypt and Assyria, and these three nations will be a blessing to all the world. 25The LORD Almighty will bless them and say, “I will bless you, Egypt, my people; you, Assyria, whom I created; and you, Israel, my chosen people.”
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.