An Oracle Concerning Egypt

1An oracle concerning Egypt.

Behold, the LORD is riding on a swift cloud

and comes to Egypt;

and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence,

and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.

2And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,

and they will fight, each against another

and each against his neighbour,

city against city, kingdom against kingdom;

3and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out,

and I will confound19:3 Or I will swallow up their counsel;

and they will enquire of the idols and the sorcerers,

and the mediums and the necromancers;

4and I will give over the Egyptians

into the hand of a hard master,

and a fierce king will rule over them,

declares the Lord GOD of hosts.

5And the waters of the sea will be dried up,

and the river will be dry and parched,

6and its canals will become foul,

and the branches of Egypt's Nile will diminish and dry up,

reeds and rushes will rot away.

7There will be bare places by the Nile,

on the brink of the Nile,

and all that is sown by the Nile will be parched,

will be driven away, and will be no more.

8The fishermen will mourn and lament,

all who cast a hook in the Nile;

and they will languish

who spread nets on the water.

9The workers in combed flax will be in despair,

and the weavers of white cotton.

10Those who are the pillars of the land will be crushed,

and all who work for pay will be grieved.

11The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish;

the wisest counsellors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel.

How can you say to Pharaoh,

“I am a son of the wise,

a son of ancient kings”?

12Where then are your wise men?

Let them tell you

that they might know what the LORD of hosts has purposed against Egypt.

13The princes of Zoan have become fools,

and the princes of Memphis are deluded;

those who are the cornerstones of her tribes

have made Egypt stagger.

14The LORD has mingled within her a spirit of confusion,

and they will make Egypt stagger in all its deeds,

as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.

15And there will be nothing for Egypt

that head or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.

Egypt, Assyria, Israel Blessed

16In that day the Egyptians will be like women, and tremble with fear before the hand that the LORD of hosts shakes over them. 17And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians. Everyone to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the purpose that the LORD of hosts has purposed against them.

18In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD of hosts. One of these will be called the City of Destruction.19:18 Dead Sea Scroll and some other manuscripts City of the Sun

19In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD at its border. 20It will be a sign and a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry to the LORD because of oppressors, he will send them a saviour and defender, and deliver them. 21And the LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day and worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make vows to the LORD and perform them. 22And the LORD will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the LORD, and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them.

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

24In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, 25whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”