Isaiah 18-20

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

18 Woe to the land whirring with wings which is beyond the rivers of Cush or Ethiopia,

² That sends ambassadors by the Nile, even in vessels of papyrus upon the waters! Go, you swift messengers, to a nation tall and polished, to a people terrible from their beginning [feared and dreaded near and far], a nation strong and victorious, whose land the rivers divide!

³ All you inhabitants of the world, you who dwell on the earth, when a signal is raised on the mountains—look! When a trumpet is blown—hear!

⁴ For thus the Lord has said to me: I will be still and I will look on from My dwelling place, like clear and glowing heat in sunshine, like a fine cloud of mist in the heat of harvest.

⁵ For before the harvest, when the blossom is over and the flower becomes a ripening grape, He will cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and the spreading branches He will remove and cut away.

⁶ They [the dead bodies of the slain warriors] shall be left together to the ravenous birds of the mountains and to the beasts of the earth; and the ravenous birds will summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth will winter upon them.

⁷ At that time shall a present be brought to the Lord of hosts from a people tall and polished, from a people terrible from their beginning and feared and dreaded near and far, a nation strong and victorious, whose land the rivers or great channels divide—to the place [of worship] of the ^[a]Name of the Lord of hosts, to Mount Zion [in Jerusalem].^(A)

19 The mournful, inspired prediction (a burden to be lifted up) 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 hearts of the Egyptians will melt within them.

² And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians, and they will fight, every one against his brother and every one against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.

³ And the spirit of the Egyptians within them will become exhausted and emptied out and will fail, and I will destroy their counsel and confound their plans; and they will seek counsel from the idols and the sorcerers, and from those having familiar spirits (the mediums) and the wizards.

⁴ And I will give over the Egyptians into the hand of a hard and cruel master, and a fierce king will rule over them, says the Lord, the Lord of hosts.

⁵ And the waters shall fail from the Nile, and the river shall be wasted and become dry.

⁶ And the rivers shall become foul, the streams and canals of Egypt shall be diminished and dried up, the reeds and the rushes shall wither and rot away.

⁷ The meadows by the Nile, by the brink of the Nile, and all the sown fields of the Nile shall become dry, be blown away, and be no more.

⁸ The fishermen will lament, and all who cast a hook into the Nile will mourn; and they who spread nets upon the waters will languish.

⁹ Moreover, they who work with combed flax and they who weave white [cotton] cloth will be confounded and in despair.

¹⁰ [Those who are] the pillars and foundations of Egypt will be crushed, and all those who work for hire or who build dams will be grieved.

¹¹ The princes of Zoan [ancient capital of the Pharaohs] are utterly foolish; the counsel of the wisest counselors of Pharaoh has become witless (stupid). How can you say to Pharaoh, I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings?

¹² Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you now [if they are so wise], and let them make known what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt [if they can].

¹³ The princes of Zoan have become fools, and the princes of Memphis are confused and deceived; those who are the cornerstones of her tribes have led Egypt astray.

¹⁴ The Lord has mingled a spirit of perverseness, error, and confusion within her; [her leaders] have caused Egypt to stagger in all her doings, as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.

¹⁵ Neither can any work [done singly or by concerted action] accomplish anything for Egypt, whether by head or tail, palm branch or rush [high or low].

¹⁶ In that day will the Egyptians be like women [timid and helpless]; and they will tremble and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord of hosts which He shakes over them.

¹⁷ And the land of Judah [allied to Assyria] shall become a terror to the Egyptians; everyone to whom mention of it is made will be afraid and everyone who mentions it—to him will they turn in fear, because of the purpose of the Lord of hosts which He purposes against Egypt.

¹⁸ In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of [the Hebrews of] Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of hosts. One of them will be called the City of the Sun or Destruction.

¹⁹ In 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.

²⁰ And it will be 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, even a mighty one, and he will deliver them.^(B)

²¹ And the Lord will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know (have knowledge of, be acquainted with, give heed to, and cherish) the Lord in that day and will worship with sacrifices of animal and vegetable offerings; they will vow a vow to the Lord and perform it.

²² And the Lord shall smite Egypt, smiting and healing it; and they will return to the Lord, and He will listen to their entreaties and heal them.

²³ In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria; and the Egyptians will worship [the Lord] with the Assyrians.

²⁴ In that day Israel shall be the third, with Egypt and with Assyria [in a Messianic league], a blessing in the midst of the earth,

²⁵ Whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people and Assyria the work of My hands and Israel My heritage.

20 In the year that the Tartan [Assyrian commander in chief] came to Ashdod in Philistia, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, he fought against Ashdod and took it.

² At that time the Lord spoke by Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, Go, loose the sackcloth from off your loins and take your shoes off your feet. And he had done so, walking around stripped [to his loincloth] and barefoot.

³ And the Lord said, As My servant Isaiah has walked [comparatively] naked and barefoot for three years, as a sign and forewarning concerning Egypt and concerning Cush (Ethiopia),

⁴ So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptian captives and the Ethiopian exiles, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with buttocks uncovered—to the shame of Egypt.

⁵ And they shall be dismayed and confounded because of Ethiopia their hope and expectation and Egypt their glory and boast.

⁶ And the inhabitants of this coastland [the Israelites and their neighbors] will say in that day, See! This is what comes to those in whom we trusted and hoped, to whom we fled for help to deliver us from the king of Assyria! But we, how shall we escape [captivity and exile]?