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The Lord Will Judge Egypt

19 This is an oracle[a] about Egypt:
Look, the Lord rides on a swift-moving cloud
and approaches Egypt.
The idols of Egypt tremble before him;
the Egyptians lose their courage.[b]
“I will provoke civil strife in Egypt:[c]
brothers will fight with one another,
as will neighbors,
cities, and kingdoms.[d]
The Egyptians will panic,[e]
and I will confuse their strategy.[f]
They will seek guidance from the idols and from the spirits of the dead,
from the pits used to conjure up underworld spirits, and from the magicians.[g]

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 19:1 tn See note at Isa 13:1.
  2. Isaiah 19:1 tn Heb “and the heart of Egypt melts within it.”
  3. Isaiah 19:2 tn Heb I will provoke Egypt against Egypt” (NAB similar).
  4. Isaiah 19:2 tn Heb “and they will fight, a man against his brother, and a man against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.” Civil strife will extend all the way from the domestic level to the provincial arena.
  5. Isaiah 19:3 tn Heb “and the spirit of Egypt will be laid waste in its midst.”
  6. Isaiah 19:3 tn The verb בָּלַע (balaʿ, “confuse”) is a homonym of the more common בָּלַע (balaʿ, “swallow”); see HALOT 135 s.v. I בלע.
  7. Isaiah 19:3 tn Heb “they will inquire of the idols and of the spirits of the dead and of the ritual pits and of the magicians.” Hebrew אוֹב (ʾov, “ritual pit”) refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. See the note on “incantations” in 8:19.