Isaiah 18-20

New Catholic Bible

¹ Woe to the land of buzzing locusts
    beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,^[a]
2 sending ambassadors by sea
    in papyrus vessels across the waters.
Go forth, you swift messengers,
    to a nation tall and bronzed,
to a people dreaded near and far,
    a mighty and conquering nation
    whose land is crossed by many rivers.
³ All you who inhabit the world,
    you who dwell on the earth,
you will see when the signal is raised on the mountains
    and hear when the trumpet is sounded.
⁴ For this is what the Lord said to me:
    I will quietly look down from my dwelling
like the shimmering heat of the summer sun,
    like a cloud of dew during the harvest heat.
⁵ For prior to the harvest, when the flowering is over
    and the blooms become ripening grapes
the shoots will be cut off with pruning hooks,
    and the branches will be cut away and discarded.
⁶ They will all be left
    to the birds of prey on the mountains
    and to the wild beasts of the earth.
In summer the birds of prey will dwell there,
    while the wild animals will winter on them.

Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud,
    and he is coming to Egypt.
The idols of Egypt will tremble before him,
    and the hearts of the Egyptians will melt within them.
² I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,
    and they will fight against one another,
brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor,
    city against city, kingdom against kingdom.
³ The spirit of the Egyptians will ebb away within them,
    and I will throw their deliberations into disarray.
They will then resort to consulting idols
    and the spirits of the dead,
    as well as ghosts and sorcerers.
⁴ I will deliver the Egyptians
    into the power of a harsh master,
a cruel king who will rule over them—
    says the Lord, the Lord of hosts.
⁵ The waters of the Nile will ebb away,
    and the river will become parched and dry.
⁶ Its canals will emit a terrible stench,
    and its branches will diminish and dry up;
    reeds and rushes will wither away.
⁷ All the plants on the banks of the Nile
    and all the vegetation of the Nile
    will dry up, blow away, and vanish.
⁸ The fishermen will groan and mourn,
    all those who cast their hooks into the Nile,
while those who spread their nets on the water
    will lose heart.
⁹ The linen-workers will despair,
    as will the combers and weavers.
¹⁰ The spinners will be dismayed,
    and all who work for wages will be crushed.
¹¹ The princes of Zoan^[b] are utter fools;
    the wisest of Pharaoh’s counselors offer stupid advice.
How can you dare to say to Pharaoh,
    “I am descended from sages;
    I spring from ancient kings”?
¹² Where then are your sages?
    Let them tell you,
so that all may know
    what the Lord of hosts has planned against Egypt.
¹³ The princes of Zoan have become fools.
    and the princes of Memphis have been deceived.
The chiefs of her tribes
    have led Egypt astray.
¹⁴ The Lord has infused them
    with a spirit of confusion;
they have made Egypt stagger in everything she does,
    just as a drunkard staggers around in his vomit.
¹⁵ Neither head nor tail,
    neither palm branch nor reed,
    will be able to do anything for Egypt.