The Burden Concerning Egypt

1The burden concerning Egypt. Behold, the LORD rides upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall tremble at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.

2And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight everyone against his brother, and everyone against his neighbor; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.

3And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in its midst; and I will destroy its counsel: and they shall seek after the idols, and the charmers, and the mediums, and the wizards.

4And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, says the Lord, the LORD of hosts.

5And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.

6And they shall turn the rivers foul; and the brooks of Egypt shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and rushes shall wither.

7The paper reeds by the river, by the mouth of the river, and everything sown by the river, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more.

8The fishermen also shall mourn, and all they that cast hooks into the river shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.

9Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave fine linen, shall lose hope.

10And they shall be crushed in their purposes, all that make wages will be grieved.

11Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counselors of Pharaoh give foolish counsel: how do you say unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?

12Where are they? where are your wise men? and let them tell you now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts has purposed upon Egypt.

13The princes of Zoan have become fools, the princes of Memphis are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the cornerstones of its tribes.

14The LORD has mixed a perverse spirit in its midst: and they have caused Egypt to err in her every work, as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.

15Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, palm branch or bulrush, may do.

16In that day shall Egypt be like women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which he shakes over it.

17And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, everyone that makes mention of it shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the LORD of hosts, which he has determined against it.

18In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the LORD of hosts; one shall be called, The city of destruction.

19In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at its border to the LORD.

20And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the LORD because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a savior, and a mighty one, and he shall deliver them.

21And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day, and shall make sacrifice and offering; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the LORD, and perform it.

22And the LORD shall strike Egypt: he shall strike and heal it: and they shall return even to the LORD, and he shall be entreated by them, and shall heal them.

23In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.

24In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land:

25Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.