Isaiah 19:12

12 Where [are] your sages then? Now, let them tell you, and let them know what Yahweh of hosts has planned against Egypt.

Isaiah 19:12 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 19:12

Where [are] they? where [are] thy wise [men]?
&c.] The magicians and soothsayers, the diviners and astrologers, who pretended, by their magic art and skill in judicial astrology, to foretell things to come: this is an address to the king of Egypt, who had such persons about him, and encouraged them, by consulting them on occasion, and rewarding them:

and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the Lord of
hosts hath purposed upon Egypt;
or, "against it"; let them tell, if they can, and make known unto thee the purposes of God's heart, the things he has resolved upon, even the calamities and punishments he will shortly inflict upon the Egyptians, of which he has given notice by his prophets.

Isaiah 19:12 In-Context

10 And her weavers will be crushed; all [the] {hired workers} [will be] grieved of heart.

11 Surely the princes of Zoan [are] foolish; the wise of the counselors of Pharaoh [give] senseless counsel. How can you say to Pharaoh, "I myself [am] a son of sages, a {descendant} of ancient kings"?

12 Where [are] your sages then? Now, let them tell you, and let them know what Yahweh of hosts has planned against Egypt.

13 The princes of Zoan have become foolish; the princes of Memphis are deceived; the leaders of her tribes have led Egypt astray.

14 Yahweh has mixed a spirit of confusion into her midst, and they have caused Egypt to stagger in all of its doings, as {when a drunkard staggers} in his vomit.