Isaia 19:8

8 E i pescatori si lamenteranno, e tutti quelli che gittano l’amo nel rivo piangeranno, e coloro che stendono la rete sopra le acque languiranno.

Isaia 19:8 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 19:8

The fishers also shall mourn
Because there will be no fish to catch, the waters of the river being dried up, and so will have none to sell, and nothing to support themselves and families with; and this must also affect the people in general, fish being the common food they lived upon, see ( Numbers 11:5 ) , not only because of the great plenty there usually was, but because they killed and ate but very few living creatures, through a superstitious regard unto them; though Herodotus says ^F8 the Egyptian priests might not taste of fishes, yet the common people might; for, according to that historian ^F9, when the river Nile flowed out of the lake of Moeris, a talent of silver every day was brought into the king's treasury, arising from the profit of fish; and when it flowed in, twenty pounds; nay, he expressly says ^F11, that some of them live upon fish only, gutted, and dried with the sun:

and all they that cast angle,
or hook,

into the brooks shall lament;
which describes one sort of fishermen, and way of catching fishes, with the angle and hook, as the following clause describes another sort:

and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish;
be dispirited and enfeebled for want of trade and subsistence, and with grief and horror.

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 Euterpe, sive l. 2. c. 37.
F9 Ibid. c. 149.
F11 Ibid. c. 92.

Isaia 19:8 In-Context

6 E i fiumi si ritrarranno, e i rivi del forte paese scemeranno, e si seccheranno; le canne e i giunchi si appasseranno.

7 Le praterie che son presso al fiume, in su la bocca del fiume, e tutti i seminati del fiume si seccheranno, e saranno dissipati e non saranno più.

8 E i pescatori si lamenteranno, e tutti quelli che gittano l’amo nel rivo piangeranno, e coloro che stendono la rete sopra le acque languiranno.

9 E quelli che fanno lavori di lino finissimo, e che tessono le fine tele bianche, saranno confusi.

10 E gli argini di Egitto, di tutti coloro che fanno chiusure per vivai, saranno rotti.