1Here is a prophecy against Egypt that the LORD gave me. The LORD is coming to Egypt. He’s riding on a cloud that moves very fast. The statues of the gods in Egypt tremble with fear because of him. The hearts of the people there melt with fear.2The LORD says, ‘I will stir up one Egyptian against another. Relatives will fight against relatives. Neighbours will fight against one another. Cities will fight against cities. Kingdoms will fight against one another.3The people of Egypt will lose hope. I will keep them from doing what they plan to do. They will ask their gods for advice. They will turn to the spirits of dead people for help. They will go to people who get messages from those who have died. They will ask for advice from people who talk to the spirits of the dead.4I will hand the Egyptians over to a mean and unkind master. A powerful king will rule over them,’ announces the LORD. He is the LORD who rules over all.5The waters of the River Nile will dry up. The bottom of it will be cracked and dry.6Its canals will stink. And the streams of Egypt will get smaller and smaller until they dry up. The tall grass that grows along the river will dry up.7So will the plants along the banks of the Nile. Even the planted fields along the Nile will dry up. Everything that grows there will blow away and disappear.8The fishermen will moan. All those who drop hooks into the Nile will weep. Those who throw their nets on the water will become very sad.9Those who make clothes out of flax will lose hope. So will those who weave fine linen.10Those who work with cloth will be unhappy. And all those who work for money will be ill at heart.11The officials of the city of Zoan are very foolish. Pharaoh’s wise men give advice that doesn’t make any sense. How can they dare to say to Pharaoh, ‘We’re among the wise men’? How can they say to him, ‘We’re like the advisers to the kings of long ago’?12Pharaoh, where are your wise men now? Let them tell you what the LORD who rules over all has planned against Egypt.13The officials of Zoan have become foolish. The leaders of Memphis have been lied to. The most important leaders in Egypt have led its people astray.14The LORD has given them a spirit that makes them feel dizzy. They make Egypt unsteady in everything it does. Egypt is like a person who drinks too much. He throws up and then walks around in the mess he’s made.15No one in Egypt can do anything to help them. Its elders and important leaders can’t help them. Its prophets and priests can’t do anything. Those who rule over others can’t help. And those who bow down to them can’t help either.16In days to come, the people of Egypt will become weak. The LORD who rules over all will raise his hand against them. Then they will tremble with fear.17The people of Judah will bring terror to the Egyptians. Everyone in Egypt who hears the name of Judah will be terrified. That’s because of what the LORD who rules over all is planning to do to them.18At that time the people of five cities in Egypt will worship the LORD. He is the LORD who rules over all. They will use the Hebrew language when they worship him. They will promise to be faithful to him. One of those cities will be called the City of the Sun.19At that time there will be an altar to the LORD in the middle of Egypt. There will be a monument to him at its border.20They will remind people that the LORD who rules over all is worshipped in Egypt. The people there will cry out to the LORD. They will cry out because of those who treat them badly. He will send someone to stand up for them and save them. And he will set them free.21So the LORD will make himself known to the people of Egypt. At that time they will recognise that he is the LORD. They will worship him by bringing sacrifices and grain offerings to him. They will make promises to the LORD. And they will keep them.22The LORD will strike Egypt with a plague. But then he will heal them. They will turn to the LORD. And he will answer their prayers and heal them.23At that time there will be a wide road from Egypt to Assyria. The people of Assyria will go to Egypt. And the people of Egypt will go to Assyria. The people of Egypt and Assyria will worship the LORD together.24At that time Egypt, Assyria and Israel will be a blessing to the whole earth.25The LORD who rules over all will bless those three nations. He will say, ‘Let the Egyptians be blessed. They are my people. Let the Assyrians be blessed. My hands created them. And let the Israelites be blessed. They are my very own people.’
English Standard Version
An Oracle Concerning Egypt
1An oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt; and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence, and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.2And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians, and they will fight, each against another and each against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom;3and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out, and I will confound* their counsel; and they will inquire of the idols and the sorcerers, and the mediums and the necromancers;4and I will give over the Egyptians into the hand of a hard master, and a fierce king will rule over them, declares the Lord God of hosts.5And the waters of the sea will be dried up, and the river will be dry and parched,6and its canals will become foul, and the branches of Egypt’s Nile will diminish and dry up, reeds and rushes will rot away.7There will be bare places by the Nile, on the brink of the Nile, and all that is sown by the Nile will be parched, will be driven away, and will be no more.8The fishermen will mourn and lament, all who cast a hook in the Nile; and they will languish who spread nets on the water.9The workers in combed flax will be in despair, and the weavers of white cotton.10Those who are the pillars of the land will be crushed, and all who work for pay will be grieved.11The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish; the wisest counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel. How can you say to Pharaoh, “I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings”?12Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you that they might know what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt.13The princes of Zoan have become fools, and the princes of Memphis are deluded; those who are the cornerstones of her tribes have made Egypt stagger.14The Lord has mingled within her a spirit of confusion, and they will make Egypt stagger in all its deeds, as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.15And there will be nothing for Egypt that head or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.
Egypt, Assyria, Israel Blessed
16In that day the Egyptians will be like women, and tremble with fear before the hand that the Lord of hosts shakes over them.17And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians. Everyone to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the purpose that the Lord of hosts has purposed against them.18In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of hosts. One of these 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 at its border.20It will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry to the Lord because of oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and deliver them.21And the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day and worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them.22And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the Lord, and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them.23In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.24In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth,25whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”
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