Oracle of Judgment on Egypt

19 An oracle of Egypt:

• Look! Yahweh is riding on a swift cloud
  • and is coming to Egypt.
• And the idols of Egypt will tremble in front of him,
  • and the heart of Egypt melts in his inner parts.
  • 2 “And I will stir up Egyptians[fn] against Egyptians ,[fn] and each one will fight against his brother
• and each one against his neighbor,
  • city against city, kingdom against kingdom.
  • 3 And the spirit of the Egyptians[fn] will be disturbed in his midst, and I will confuse[fn] his plans,[fn]
• and they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead,
  • and the ghosts and the spiritists.
  • 4 And I will hand over the Egyptians[fn] into the hand of a hard master, and a powerful king will rule over them,”
• declares[fn] the Lord Yahweh of hosts.
  • 5 And the waters will be dried up from the sea, and the river will be parched and dry.
  • 6 And the rivers will become foul-smelling; the branches of the Nile of Egypt will become little and dry up;
  • reed and rush will wither.
  • 7 Bare places by the Nile will be dried up, by the edge of the Nile and all the sown land of the Nile;
  • it will be driven about, and it will be no more .[fn]
  • 8 And the fishers will mourn, and all of those who cast fishhooks[fn] in the Nile will lament,
  • and those who spread out fishing nets[fn] on the surface[fn] of the water will languish.
  • 9 And the workers of combed flax will be ashamed, and those who weave white linen.
  • 10 And her weavers will be crushed; all the hired workers[fn] 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[fn] 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[fn] in his vomit.
  • 15 And there will be nothing for Egypt to do ,[fn] head or tail, palm branch or reed.