Message to Egypt

      1The oracle 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 each fight 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 confound their strategy,
            So that they will resort to idols and ghosts of the dead
            And to mediums and spiritists.

      4“Moreover, I will deliver the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel master,
            And a mighty king will rule over them,” declares the Lord GOD of hosts.

      5The waters from the sea will dry up,
            And the river will be parched and dry.

      6The canals will emit a stench,
            The streams of Egypt will thin out and dry up;
            The reeds and rushes will rot away.

      7The bulrushes by the Nile, by the 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 lament,
            And all those who cast a line into the Nile will mourn,
            And those who spread nets on the waters will pine away.

      9Moreover, the manufacturers of linen made from combed flax
            And the weavers of white cloth will be utterly dejected.

      10And the pillars of Egypt will be crushed;
            All the hired laborers will be grieved in soul.

      11The princes of Zoan are mere fools;
            The advice of Pharaoh’s wisest advisers has become stupid.
            How can you men 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 understand what the LORD of hosts
            Has purposed against Egypt.

      13The princes of Zoan have acted foolishly,
            The princes of Memphis are deluded;
            Those who are the cornerstone of her tribes
            Have led Egypt astray.

      14The LORD has mixed within her a spirit of distortion;
            They have led Egypt astray in all that it does,
            As a drunken man staggers in his vomit.

      15There will be no work for Egypt
            Which its head or tail, its palm branch or bulrush, may do.

      16In that day the Egyptians will become like women, and they will tremble and be in dread because of the waving of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which He is going to wave over them. 17The land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt; everyone to whom it is mentioned will be in dread of it, because of the purpose of the LORD of hosts which He is purposing against them.

      18In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will be speaking the language of Canaan and swearing allegiance to the LORD of hosts; one will be called the City of Destruction.

      19In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD near its border. 20It will become a sign and a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the LORD because of oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Champion, and He will deliver them. 21Thus the LORD will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day. They will even worship with sacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to the LORD and perform it. 22The LORD will strike Egypt, striking but healing; so they will return to the LORD, and He will respond to them and will heal them.

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

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