1 The burden of Egypt.
Behold, Jehovah rideth on a swift cloud,
And will come into Egypt;
And the idols of Egypt shall be moved before his face, And the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of her.
2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians; Then shall they fight every one against his brother, Every one against his neighbour;
City against city,
And kingdom against kingdom.
3 And the spoil of Egypt shall be emptied in the midst of her, And I will destroy her counsel,
Even though they seek to the idols, to the magicians, To the soothsayers, to the diviners.
4 And I will deliver the Egyptians, into the hand of a cruel master, And a powerful king shall rule over them,
Saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.
5 Then shall the waters fail from the sea,
And the flood shall be wasted and dried up.
6 The rivers shall be turned aside;
The brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up; The reed and the flag shall wither.
7 The herbs at the brook, and on the mouth of the brook, And all the seed of the river,
Shall wither, and be driven away, that it may be no more.
8 And the fishers shall mourn,
And all who cast a hook into the brook shall lament; They who spread a net on the face of the waters shall anguish.
9 They who work in the finest flax shall blush,
And they who weave perforated [376] meshes.
10 For their nets shall be broken,
And all that make a net shall be sad in their heart.
11 Surely the princes of Zoan are fools;
The counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is foolish. How say ye to Pharaoh,
I am the son of the wise,
And the son of ancient kings?
12 Where are now thy wise men?
That they may declare to thee,
Or that they may even know,
What Jehovah of hosts hath decreed concerning Egypt.
13 The princes of Zoan are become infatuated,
The princes of Noph are deceived;
Egypt hath been led astray
By a corner of her tribes.
14 Jehovah hath mingled a spirit of perverseness in the midst of her; And they have misled Egypt in all her work,
As a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.
15 Neither shall Egypt have any work to do,
The head or the tail,
The branch or the rush.
16 In that day shall Egypt be like women;
For it shall shudder and tremble,
From before the shaking of the hand of Jehovah of hosts, Which he shall shake over it.
17 And to the Egyptians shall the land of Judah be a terror. Every one that shall mention it
Shall tremble on account of her,
Because of the purpose of Jehovah of hosts,
Which he hath decreed concerning her.
18 In that day shall there be five cities in the land of Egypt, Speaking with the lip of Canaan,
And swearing by Jehovah of hosts.
One shall be called, The city of desolation.
19 In that day shall there be
An altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, And a statue to Jehovah near its border.
20 And it shall be for a sign and for a witness
To Jehovah of hosts, in the land of Egypt;
For they shall cry to Jehovah because of the oppressors, And he will send to them a saviour,
And a ruler, that he may deliver them.
21 And Jehovah shall be known by the Egyptians;
The Egyptians shall know Jehovah in that day,
And shall make sacrifice and oblation,
And shall vow vows to Jehovah, and perform them.
22 Therefore will the Lord smite Egypt,
Smiting and healing;
For they shall be turned to Jehovah,
And he will be entreated by them,
And will heal them.
23 In that day shall there be a way from Egypt into Assyria; The Assyrians shall go into Egypt,
And the Egyptians into Assyria;
And the Egyptians shall serve the Assyrians. [377]
24 In that day shall Israel be,
With Egypt and with Assyria,
The third blessing in the midst of the land.
25 For Jehovah of hosts will bless him, saying,
Blessed be the Egyptian, my people,
And the Assyrian, the work of my hands,
And Israel, my inheritance.
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