Background
Egypt was the most tempting ally in Judah’s world. It was ancient, wealthy, famous for its wisdom, and close by. Throughout Isaiah’s ministry, Judah’s leaders kept looking to Egypt for help against Assyria, and Isaiah kept warning them not to (Isa. 30:1–7; Isa. 31:1–3).
Isaiah 19 has two very different halves. The first (verses 1–15) is judgment. The Lord comes into Egypt, sets Egyptians against each other, dries up the Nile economy, and makes its famous wise men look foolish. In the century after Isaiah, Egypt did suffer civil strife, Assyrian invasion (Esarhaddon took Memphis in 671 BC), and foreign rule.
The second half (verses 16–25) is one of the most astonishing passages in the Old Testament. Five times Isaiah says “in that day,” and each step brings Egypt closer to the Lord until, in the final verse, God calls Egypt “my people” and Assyria “the work of my hands,” and sets them beside Israel as a blessing in the earth.
The thread through the chapter
The key to Isaiah 19 is verse 22: “the LORD shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it.” The chapter is built on that pair of verbs.
The smiting (verses 1–15). The Lord takes apart everything Egypt trusted, one piece at a time: its gods tremble (verse 1), its social order collapses into civil war (verse 2), its spirit and counsel fail, and people turn to mediums (verse 3). Its independence goes to a cruel master (verse 4). Its economy, which depended entirely on the Nile, dries up. The fishermen, the flax workers, and the weavers are all ruined (verses 5–10). And its famous wisdom turns to foolishness. The royal counselors of Zoan and Memphis stagger like drunks (verses 11–15). Everything Judah admired about Egypt proves hollow.
The healing (verses 16–25). Then the direction reverses. Five “in that day” steps move Egypt from terror, to speaking the language of Canaan, to building an altar to the Lord, to crying out and receiving “a saviour,” to knowing and worshipping the Lord. The final step reaches Assyria too. A highway connects Egypt and Assyria, the two superpowers that had crushed Israel between them, and all three worship together.
Isaiah’s audience would have been stunned. The Lord’s purpose was never just to punish Judah’s enemies. It was to bring them home. That is why He smites: so that He can heal.
Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its versein the margin.
The Lord rides into Egypt
This is the oracle about Egypt. Look! The Lord rides on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt. Egypt’s idols tremble before Him, and Egypt’s heart melts. “I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian: brother will fight brother, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom. Egypt’s spirit will fail within it, and I will confuse its plans. They will consult idols, the spirits of the dead, mediums, and spiritists. I will hand Egypt over to a harsh master, and a fierce king will rule them,” says the Lord God of hosts.
1 The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.
3 And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.
4 And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts.
The Nile runs dry
The waters of the Nile will dry up, and the riverbed will be parched and dry. The canals will stink, and Egypt’s streams will dwindle and dry up. Reeds and rushes will wither. The plants along the Nile and everything sown there will dry up, blow away, and vanish. The fishermen will groan and lament, all who cast hooks into the Nile and spread nets on the water. The flax workers and linen weavers will despair. Egypt’s cloth makers will be crushed, and all its hired workers will be sick at heart.
5 And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.
6 And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither.
7 The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more.
8 The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.
9 Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave networks, shall be confounded.
10 And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish.
The wise men of Egypt
The officials of Zoan are complete fools, and Pharaoh’s wisest advisers give stupid advice. How can you tell Pharaoh, “I come from a line of wise men, descended from ancient kings”? Where are your wise men now? Let them tell you what the Lord of hosts has planned for Egypt. The officials of Zoan have become fools, and the leaders of Memphis are deceived. The heads of its tribes have led Egypt astray. The Lord has poured into them a spirit of confusion, and they make Egypt stagger in everything it does, like a drunk staggering in his vomit. No one in Egypt, head or tail, palm branch or reed, can do anything.
11 Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?
12 Where are they? where are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.
13 The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof.
14 The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.
15 Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.
Egypt and Assyria come to the Lord
In that day the Egyptians will tremble when the Lord raises His hand against them. Even the name of Judah will terrify Egypt, because of what the Lord has planned. In that day five cities in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of hosts. One will be called the City of the Sun. In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the middle of Egypt and a monument to the Lord at its border. It will be a sign and a witness to the Lord in Egypt. When they cry to the Lord because of their oppressors, He will send them a savior and defender to rescue them. The Lord will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the Lord. They will worship with sacrifices and offerings, make vows to the Lord, and keep them. The Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will turn to the Lord. He will listen to their prayers and heal them. In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. Assyrians will go to Egypt and Egyptians to Assyria, and they will worship together. In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the middle of the earth. The Lord of hosts will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt My people, Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”
16 In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which he shaketh over it.
17 And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, every one that maketh mention thereof shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the LORD of hosts, which he hath determined against it.
18 In 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.
19 In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the LORD.
20 And 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 saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them.
21 And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the LORD, and perform it.
22 And the LORD shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the LORD, and he shall be entreated of them, and shall heal them.
23 In 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.
24 In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land:
25 Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.
Seeing Christ in Isaiah 19
Isaiah 19 is a portrait of the Savior’s redemptive reach. The Lord rides on the clouds in judgment (verse 1), as Christ will at His coming (Matt. 24:30). But His goal is healing: “he shall smite and heal” (verse 22). He sends Egypt “a saviour, and a great one” (verse 20), and the great Savior of the world was sheltered in Egypt as a child (Matt. 2:13–15).
The chapter’s ending, with Egypt, Assyria, and Israel worshipping together, is fulfilled in the gospel of Jesus Christ, who “hath broken down the middle wall of partition” between peoples (Eph. 2:14). In Him, even the oldest enemies can become “my people.”
Liken it to yourself
- What is my “Egypt,” something impressive that I’m tempted to trust instead of the Lord (money, expertise, a wise-seeming plan)?
- Can I see a time when the Lord “smote and healed” me, when something painful became the beginning of healing?
- Who are the “Egypt” and “Assyria” in my world: people I find it hardest to imagine as the Lord’s people? What does verse 25 ask of me toward them?
Worth exploring next
- Egypt in Isaiah. Compare Isaiah 19 with Isa. 20, Isa. 30:1–7, and Isa. 31:1–3. What’s the common warning? How does chapter 19’s ending change the picture?
- Blessed be Egypt. Compare verse 25 with Gen. 12:1–3, Abr. 2:9–11, and 2 Ne. 26:33.
- Enemies reconciled. Read 4 Ne. 1:15–17. How does the Nephite golden age fulfill the spirit of Isaiah 19:23–25?
Sources & further reading
- “Egypt”, Bible Dictionary.
- “Assyria and Babylonia”, Bible Dictionary.
- Chapter 14: A Voice of Warning to the Wicked (Isaiah 13–23), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).
- John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, New International Commentary on the Old Testament, 2 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986–1998.
- Joseph Blenkinsopp, Isaiah, Anchor Bible, 3 vols. New York: Doubleday, 2000–2003.