Isaiah 19

Message to Egypt

1 The ¹oracle concerning ²Egypt. Behold, the LORD is ³riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt; The ⁴idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence, And the ⁵heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.

2 "So I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians; And they will ⁶each fight against his brother and each against his neighbor, City against city and kingdom against kingdom.

3 "Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be demoralized within them; And I will confound their strategy, So that ⁷they will resort to idols and ghosts of the dead And to mediums and spiritists.

4 "Moreover, I will deliver the Egyptians into the hand of a ⁸cruel master, And a mighty king will rule over them," declares the Lord GOD of hosts.

5 ⁹The waters from the sea will dry up, And the river will be parched and dry.

6 The ¹⁰canals will emit a stench, The ¹¹streams of Egypt will thin out and dry up; ¹²The reeds and rushes will rot away.

7 The bulrushes by the ¹³Nile, by the edge of the Nile And all the sown fields by the Nile Will become dry, be driven away, and be no more.

8 And the ¹⁴fishermen will lament, And all those who cast a line into the Nile will mourn, And those who spread nets on the waters will pine away.

9 Moreover, the manufacturers of linen made from combed flax And the weavers of white ¹⁵cloth will be utterly dejected.

10 And the ¹⁶pillars of Egypt will be crushed; All the hired laborers will be grieved in soul.

11 The princes of ¹⁷Zoan are mere fools; The advice of Pharaoh's wisest advisers has become stupid. How can you men say to Pharaoh, "I am a son of the ¹⁸wise, a son of ancient kings "?

12 Well then, where are your wise men? Please let them tell you, And let them understand what the LORD of hosts Has ¹⁹purposed against Egypt.

13 The princes of Zoan have acted foolishly, The princes of ²⁰Memphis are deluded; Those who are the ²¹cornerstone of her tribes Have led Egypt astray.

14 The LORD has mixed within her a spirit of ²²distortion; ²³They have led Egypt astray in all that it does, As a ²⁴drunken man staggers in his vomit.

15 There will be no work for Egypt ²⁵Which its head or tail, its palm branch or bulrush, may do.

16 In that day the Egyptians will become like women, and they will tremble and be in ²⁶dread because * of the ²⁷waving of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which He is going to wave over them.

17 The land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt; everyone to whom it is mentioned will be in dread of it, because * of the ²⁸purpose of the LORD of hosts which He is purposing against them.

18 In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will be speaking the language of Canaan and ²⁹swearing allegiance to the LORD of hosts; one will be called the City of Destruction.

19 In that day there will be an ³⁰altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a ³¹pillar to the LORD near its border.

20 It will become a sign and a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the LORD because * of oppressors, and He will send them a ³²Savior and a ³³Champion, and He will deliver them.

21 Thus the LORD will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day. They will even worship with ³⁴sacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to the LORD and perform it.

22 The LORD will strike Egypt, striking but ³⁵healing; so they will ³⁶return to the LORD, and He will respond to them and will heal them.

23 In that day there will be a ³⁷highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians will ³⁸worship with the Assyrians.

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

25 whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, "Blessed is ³⁹Egypt My people, and Assyria ⁴⁰the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance."

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Isaiah 19 Commentary

Chapter 19

Judgments upon Egypt. (1-17) Its deliverance, and the conversion of the people. (18-25)

Verses 1-17 God shall come into Egypt with his judgments. He will raise up the causes of their destruction from among themselves. When ungodly men escape danger, they are apt to think themselves secure; but evil pursues sinners, and will speedily overtake them, except they repent. The Egyptians will be given over into the hand of one who shall rule them with rigour, as was shortly after fulfilled. The Egyptians were renowned for wisdom and science; yet the Lord would give them up to their own perverse schemes, and to quarrel, till their land would be brought by their contests to become an object of contempt and pity. He renders sinners afraid of those whom they have despised and oppressed; and the Lord of hosts will make the workers of iniquity a terror to themselves, and to each other; and every object around a terror to them.

Verses 18-25 The words, "In that day," do not always refer to the passage just before. At a time which was to come, the Egyptians shall speak the holy language, the Scripture language; not only understand it, but use it. Converting grace, by changing the heart, changes the language; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. So many Jews shall come to Egypt, that they shall soon fill five cities. Where the sun was worshipped, a place infamous for idolatry, even there shall be a wonderful reformation. Christ, the great Altar, who sanctifies every gift, shall be owned, and the gospel sacrifices of prayer and praise shall be offered up. Let the broken-hearted and afflicted, whom the Lord has wounded, and thus taught to return to, and call upon him, take courage; for He will heal their souls, and turn their sorrowing supplications into joyful praises. The Gentile nations shall not only unite with each other in the gospel fold under Christ, the great Shepherd, but they shall all be united with the Jews. They shall be owned together by him; they shall all share in one and the same blessing. Meeting at the same throne of grace, and serving with each other in the same business of religion, should end all disputes, and unite the hearts of believers to each other in holy love.

Taken from Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise)

Cross References 40

1. Isaiah 13:1
2. Joel 3:19
3. Psalms 18:9, 10; Psalms 104:3; Matthew 26:64; Revelation 1:7
4. Exodus 12:12; Jeremiah 43:12; Jeremiah 44:8
5. Joshua 2:11; Isaiah 13:7
6. Judges 7:22; 1 Samuel 14:20; 2 Chronicles 20:23; Matthew 10:21, 36
7. 1 Chronicles 10:13; Isaiah 8:19; Daniel 2:2
8. Isaiah 20:4; Jeremiah 46:26; Ezekiel 29:19
9. Isaiah 50:2; Jeremiah 51:36; Ezekiel 30:12
10. Exodus 7:18
11. Isaiah 37:25
12. Exodus 2:3; Job 8:11; Isaiah 15:6
13. Isaiah 23:3, 10
14. Ezekiel 47:10; Habakkuk 1:15
15. Proverbs 7:16; Ezekiel 27:7
16. Psalms 11:3
17. Numbers 13:22; Psalms 78:12, 43; Isaiah 30:4
18. Genesis 41:38, 39; 1 Kings 4:30; Acts 7:22
19. Isaiah 14:24; Romans 9:17
20. Jeremiah 2:16; Jeremiah 46:14, 19; Ezekiel 30:13
21. Zechariah 10:4
22. Proverbs 12:8; Matthew 17:17
23. Isaiah 3:12; Isaiah 9:16
24. Isaiah 28:7
25. Isaiah 9:14, 15
26. 2 Corinthians 5:11; Hebrews 10:31
27. Isaiah 11:15
28. Isaiah 14:24; Daniel 4:35
29. Isaiah 45:23; Isaiah 65:16
30. Isaiah 56:7; Isaiah 60:7
31. Genesis 28:18; Exodus 24:4; Josh 22:10, 26, 27
32. Isaiah 43:3, 11; Isaiah 45:15, 21; Isaiah 49:26; Isaiah 60:16; Isaiah 63:8
33. Isaiah 49:25
34. Isaiah 56:7; Isaiah 60:7; Zechariah 14:16-18
35. Deuteronomy 32:39; Isaiah 30:26; Isaiah 57:18; Hebrews 12:11
36. Isaiah 27:13; Isaiah 45:14; Hosea 14:1
37. Isaiah 11:16; Isaiah 35:8; Isaiah 49:11; Isaiah 62:10
38. Isaiah 27:13
39. Isaiah 45:14
40. Psalms 100:3; Isaiah 29:23; Isaiah 45:11; Isaiah 60:21; Isaiah 64:8; Ephesians 2:10

Footnotes 22

[a]. Or "burden of"
[b]. Or "ghosts and spirits"
[c]. Or "fierce"
[d]. Heb "YHWH," usually rendered LORD
[e]. Lit "rivers"
[f]. Or "Nile branches;" i.e. the delta
[g]. Or "mouth"
[h]. Lit "hook"
[i]. Or "languish"
[j]. Lit "ashamed"
[k]. Lit "her pillars" or, "her weavers"
[l]. Or "Tanis"
[m]. Or "brutish"
[n]. Or "know"
[o]. Or "Tanis"
[p]. Or "have caused Egypt to stagger"
[q]. Lit "its work"
[r]. Or "goes astray"
[s]. Or "cause of shame"
[t]. Lit "who mentions it will be in dread to it"
[u]. Some ancient mss and versions read "the Sun"
[v]. Lit "Mighty One"

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 19

This chapter contains prophecies of various calamities that should come upon Egypt in a short time, and of the conversion of many of them to Christ in Gospel times. The calamities are many; the Lord's coming unto them, which their gods cannot prevent, nor stand before, nor save them, and at which the hearts of the Egyptians are dispirited, Isa 19:1 civil wars among themselves, Isa 19:2 want of counsel, which sends them to idols and wizards, but in vain, Isa 19:3 subjection to a cruel lord, Isa 19:4 drying up of their rivers and waters, so that the paper reeds wither, and fishes die; and hence no business for fishermen, nor for workers in flax, or weavers of nets, Isa 19:5-10,15 the stupidity of their princes and wise counsellors, given up by the Lord to a perverse spirit, so that they concerted wrong measures, and deceived the people, Isa 19:11-14 a general consternation among them, because of the hand and counsel of the Lord; and because of the Lord's people, the Jews, who were a terror to them, Isa 19:16,17 and then follows the prophecy of their conversion in later times, which is signified by their speaking the language of Canaan, and swearing to the Lord, Isa 19:18 by their erecting an altar, and a pillar to the Lord, which should be a sign and witness to him; and by their crying to him, and his sending them a Saviour, and a great one, Isa 19:19,20 by his being known unto them, by their offering sacrifice to him, and by his smiting and healing them Isa 19:21,22 and the chapter is concluded with a prophecy of that harmony, and agreement, and fellowship, that shall be between Jew and Gentile, between Egypt, Assyria, and Israel; and that the blessing of God should be upon them all, Isa 19:23-25.