Message to Egypt

1The pronouncement concerning Egypt:

Behold, the LORD is riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt;

The idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence,

And the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.

2“So I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians;

And they will fight, each 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 confuse their strategy,

So that they will resort to idols and ghosts of the dead,

And to [a]mediums and spiritists.

4“Furthermore, I will hand the Egyptians over to a cruel master,

And a [b]mighty king will rule over them,” declares the Lord [c]GOD of armies.

5The waters from the sea will dry up,

And the river will be parched and dry.

6The [d]canals will emit a stench,

The [e]streams of Egypt will thin out and dry up;

The reeds and rushes will rot away.

7The bulrushes by the Nile, by the [f]edge of the Nile

And all the sown fields by the Nile

Will become dry, be driven away, and be no more.

8And the fishermen will grieve,

And all those who cast a [g]line into the Nile will mourn,

And those who spread nets on the waters will dwindle away.

9Moreover, the manufacturers of linen made from combed flax

And the weavers of white cloth will be [h]utterly dejected.

10And [i]the pillars of Egypt will be crushed;

All the hired laborers will be grieved in soul.

11The officials of [j]Zoan are mere fools;

The advice of Pharaoh’s wisest advisers has become [k]stupid.

How can you say to Pharaoh,

“I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings”?

12Well then, where are your wise men?

Please let them tell you,

And let them [l]understand what the LORD of armies

Has planned against Egypt.

13The officials of [m]Zoan have turned out to be fools,

The officials of Memphis are deluded;

Those who are the cornerstone of her tribes

Have [n]led Egypt astray.

14The LORD has mixed within her a spirit of distortion;

They have led Egypt astray in all [o]that it does,

As a drunken person [p]staggers in his vomit.

15There will be no work for Egypt

Which its head or tail, its palm branch or bulrush, may do.

16On that day the Egyptians will become like women, and they will tremble and be in great fear because of the waving of the hand of the LORD of armies, which He is going to wave over them. 17The land of Judah will become a cause of shame to Egypt; everyone to whom it is mentioned will be in great fear because of the plan of the LORD of armies which He is making against them.

18On that day five cities in the land of Egypt will be speaking the language of Canaan and swearing allegiance to the LORD of armies; one will be called the City of [q]Destruction.

19On that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a memorial stone to the LORD beside its border. 20And it will become a sign and a witness to the LORD of armies in the land of Egypt; for they will cry out to the LORD because of oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Champion, and He will save them. 21So the LORD will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the LORD on that day. They will even worship with sacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to the LORD and perform it. 22And the LORD will strike Egypt, striking but healing; so they will return to the LORD, and He will respond to their pleas and heal them.

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

24On that day Israel will be the third party to Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, 25whom the LORD of armies has blessed, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”