Isaiah 18-19
King James Version
18 Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
2 That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!
3 All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.
4 For so the Lord said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.
5 For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches.
6 They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.
7 In that time shall the present be brought unto the Lord of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the mount Zion.
19 The burden of Egypt. Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.
3 And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.
4 And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts.
5 And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.
6 And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither.
7 The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more.
8 The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.
9 Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave networks, shall be confounded.
10 And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish.
11 Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?
12 Where are they? where are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the Lord of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.
13 The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof.
14 The Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.
15 Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.
16 In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which he shaketh over it.
17 And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, every one that maketh mention thereof shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the Lord of hosts, which he hath determined against it.
18 In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the Lord of hosts; one shall be called, The city of destruction.
19 In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord.
20 And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them.
21 And the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord, and perform it.
22 And the Lord shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the Lord, and he shall be intreated of them, and shall heal them.
23 In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.
24 In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land:
25 Whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.
Isaiah 18-19
1599 Geneva Bible
18 1 Of the enemies of the Church. 7 And of the vocation of the Gentiles.
1 Oh, the [a]land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,
2 Sending ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of [b]reeds upon the waters, saying, [c]Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation that is scattered abroad, and spoiled, unto a terrible [d]people from their beginning even hitherto: a nation by little and little even trodden under foot: whose land the [e]floods have spoiled.
3 All ye the inhabitants of the world, and dwellers in the earth, shall see when [f]he setteth up a sign in the mountains, and when he bloweth the trumpet, ye shall hear.
4 For so the Lord said unto me, I will [g]rest and behold in my tabernacle, as [h]the heat drying up the rain, and as a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.
5 For afore the harvest, when the flour is finished, and the fruit is ripening in the flour, then he shall cut down the branches with hooks, and shall take away, and cut off the boughs:
6 They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the [i]beasts of the earth: for the fowl shall summer upon it, and every beast of the earth shall winter upon it.
7 At that time shall a [j]present be brought unto the Lord of hosts (a people that is scattered abroad, and spoiled, and of a terrible people from their beginning hitherto, a nation by little and little even trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled) to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, even the mount Zion.
19 1 The destruction of the Egyptians by the Assyrians. 18 Of their conversion to the Lord.
1 The [k]burden of Egypt. Behold, the Lord [l]rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of her.
2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: so everyone shall [m]fight against his brother, and everyone against his neighbor, city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.
3 And the [n]spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst of her, and I will destroy their counsel, and they shall seek at the idols, and at the sorcerers, and at them that have spirits of divination, and at the soothsayers.
4 And I will deliver the Egyptians into the hand of the cruel lords, and a mighty king shall rule over them, saith the Lord God of hosts.
5 Then the waters of the sea shall [o]fail, and the river shall be dried up, and wasted.
6 And the [p]rivers shall go far away: the rivers of defense shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall be cut down.
7 The grass in the river, and at the [q]head of the rivers, and all that groweth by the river shall wither, and be driven away, and be no more.
8 The fishers also shall [r]mourn, and all they that cast angle into the river, shall lament, and they that spread their net upon the waters, shall be weakened.
9 Moreover, they that work in flax of divers sorts, shall be confounded, and they that weave nets.
10 For their nets shall be broken, and all they that make ponds shall be heavy in heart.
11 Surely the princes of [s]Zoan are fools: the counsel of the wise counselors of Pharaoh, is become foolish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I [t]am the son of the wise? I am the son of the ancient kings?
12 Where are now the wise men, that they may tell thee, or may know what the Lord of hosts hath determined against Egypt?
13 The princes of Zoan are become fools: the princes of [u]Noph are deceived, they have deceived Egypt, even the [v]corners of the tribes thereof.
14 The Lord hath mingled among them the spirits [w]of errors: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man erreth in his vomit.
15 Neither shall there be any work in Egypt, which the head may [x]do, nor the tail, the branch nor the rush.
16 In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: for it shall be afraid and fear because of the moving of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which he shaketh over it.
17 And the land of Judah shall be a fear [y]unto Egypt: everyone that maketh mention of it, shall be afraid thereat, because of the counsel of the Lord of hosts, which he hath determined upon it.
18 In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt [z]speak the language of Canaan, and shall [aa]swear by the Lord of hosts: one shall be called the city of [ab]destruction.
19 In that day shall the altar of the Lord be in the midst of the land of Egypt, and [ac]a pillar by the border thereof unto the Lord.
20 And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the Lord, because of the oppressors, and he shall send them [ad]a Savior, and a great man, and shall deliver them.
21 And the Lord shall be known of the Egyptians, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and do [ae]sacrifice and oblation, and shall vow vows unto the Lord, and perform them.
22 So the Lord shall smite Egypt, he shall smite and heal it: for he shall return unto the Lord, and he shall be entreated of them and shall heal them.
23 In that day shall there be a path from [af]Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria shall come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria: so the Egyptians shall worship with Assyria.
24 In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and Assyria: even a blessing in the midst of the land.
25 For the Lord of hosts shall bless it, saying, Blessed be my people Egypt and Assyria, the work of mine hands, and Israel mine inheritance.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 18:1 He meaneth that part of Ethiopia, which lieth toward the sea, which was so full of ships that the sails (which he compareth to wings) seemed to shadow the sea.
- Isaiah 18:2 Which in those countries were great, insomuch as they made ships of them for swiftness.
- Isaiah 18:2 This may be taken, that they sent others to comfort the Jews, and to promise them help against their enemies, and so the Lord did threaten to take away their strength, that the Jews should not trust therein: or that they did solicit the Egyptians, and promised them aid to go against Judah.
- Isaiah 18:2 To wit, the Jews, who because of God’s plague, made all other nations afraid of the like, as God threatened, Deut. 28:37.
- Isaiah 18:2 Meaning, the Assyrians, as Isa. 8:7.
- Isaiah 18:3 When the Lord prepared to fight against the Ethiopians.
- Isaiah 18:4 I will stay a while from punishing the wicked.
- Isaiah 18:4 Which two seasons are most profitable for the ripening of fruits, whereby he meaneth, that he will seem to favor them, and give them abundance for a time, but he will suddenly cut them off.
- Isaiah 18:6 Not only men shall contemn them, but the brute beasts.
- Isaiah 18:7 Meaning, that God will pity his Church, and receive that little remnant as an offering unto himself.
- Isaiah 19:1 Read Isa. 13:7.
- Isaiah 19:1 Because the Egyptians trusted in the defense of their country, in the multitude of their idols, and in the valiantness of their men, the Lord showeth that he will come over all their munitions in a swift cloud, and that their idols shall tremble at his coming and that men’s hearts shall faint.
- Isaiah 19:2 As he caused the Ammonites, Moabites and Idumeans to kill one another, when they came to destroy the Church of God, 2 Chron. 20:22; Isa. 49:26.
- Isaiah 19:3 Meaning, their policy and wisdom.
- Isaiah 19:5 He showeth that the sea and Nile their great river, whereby they thought themselves most sure, should not be able to defend them from his anger, but that he would send the Assyrians among them, that should keep them under as slaves.
- Isaiah 19:6 For the Nile ran into the sea by seven streams, as though they were so many rivers.
- Isaiah 19:7 The Hebrew word is mouth, whereby they mean the spring out of the which the water gusheth as out of a mouth.
- Isaiah 19:8 The Scriptures used to describe the destruction of a country by taking away of the commodities thereof, as by vines, flesh, fish, and such other things, whereby countries are enriched.
- Isaiah 19:11 Called also Tanis, a famous city upon the Nile.
- Isaiah 19:11 He noteth the flatterers of Pharaoh: who persuaded the king that he was wise and noble, and that his house was most ancient, and so he flattered himself, saying, I am wise.
- Isaiah 19:13 Or, Memphis, others Alexandria, and now called the great Cairo.
- Isaiah 19:13 The principal upholders thereof are the chiefest cause of their destruction.
- Isaiah 19:14 For the spirit of wisdom he hath made them drunken and giddy with the spirit of error.
- Isaiah 19:15 Neither the great nor the small, the strong nor the weak.
- Isaiah 19:17 Considering that through their occasion the Jews made not God their defense: but put their trust in them, and were therefore now punished, they shall fear lest the like light upon them.
- Isaiah 19:18 Shall make one confession of faith with the people of God: by the speech of Canaan, meaning the language wherein God was then served.
- Isaiah 19:18 Shall renounce their superstitions and protest to serve God aright.
- Isaiah 19:18 Meaning, of six cities, five should serve God, and the sixth remain in their wickedness: and so of the sixth part there should be but one lost.
- Isaiah 19:19 There shall be evident signs and tokens, that God’s religion is there: which manner of speech is taken of the Patriarchs and ancient times, when God hath not as yet appointed the place, and full manner how he would be worshipped.
- Isaiah 19:20 This declareth that this prophecy should be accomplished in the time of Christ.
- Isaiah 19:21 By these ceremonies he comprehendeth the spiritual service under Christ.
- Isaiah 19:23 By these two nations, which were then chief enemies of the Church, he showeth that the Gentiles and the Jews should be joined together in one faith and religion, and should be all one fold under Christ their shepherd.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
