God’s Message to Egypt
19 This is a message about Egypt:
Look, the Lord is coming on a fast cloud
to enter Egypt.
The idols of Egypt will tremble before him,
and Egypt’s courage will melt away.
2 The Lord says, “I will cause the Egyptians to fight against themselves.
People will fight with their relatives;
neighbors will fight neighbors;
cities will fight cities;
kingdoms will fight kingdoms.
3 The Egyptians will be afraid,
and I will ruin their plans.
They will ask advice from their idols and spirits of the dead,
from their mediums and fortune-tellers.”
4 The Lord God All-Powerful says,
“I will hand Egypt over to a hard master,
and a powerful king will rule over them.”
5 The sea will become dry,
and the water will disappear from the Nile River.
6 The canals will stink;
the streams of Egypt will decrease and dry up.
All the water plants will rot;
7 all the plants along the banks of the Nile will die.
Even the planted fields by the Nile
will dry up, blow away, and disappear.
8 The fishermen, all those who catch fish from the Nile,
will groan and cry;
those who fish in the Nile will be sad.
9 All the people who make cloth from flax will be sad,
and those who weave linen will lose hope.
10 Those who weave cloth will be broken.
All those who work for money will be sad.
11 The officers of the city of Zoan are fools;
the wise men who advise the king of Egypt give wrong advice.
How can you say to him, ‘I am wise’?
How can you say, ‘I am from the old family of the kings’?
12 Egypt, where are your wise men?
Let them show you
what the Lord All-Powerful has planned for Egypt.
13 The officers of Zoan have been fooled;
the leaders of Memphis have believed false things.
So the leaders of Egypt
lead that nation the wrong way.
14 The Lord has made the leaders confused.
They have led Egypt to wander in the wrong ways,
like drunk people stumbling in their own vomit.
15 There is nothing Egypt can do;
no one there can help.
16 In that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will be afraid of the Lord All-Powerful, because he will raise his hand to strike them down. 17 The land of Judah will bring fear to Egypt. Anyone there who hears the name Judah will be afraid, because the Lord All-Powerful has planned terrible things for them. 18 At that time five cities in Egypt will speak Hebrew, the language of Canaan, and they will promise to be loyal to the Lord All-Powerful. One of these cities will be named the City of Destruction. 19 At that time there will be an altar for the Lord in the middle of Egypt and a monument to the Lord at the border of Egypt. 20 This will be a sign and a witness to the Lord All-Powerful in the land of Egypt. When the people cry to the Lord for help, he will send someone to save and defend them. He will rescue them from those who hurt them.
21 So the Lord will show himself to the Egyptians, and then they will know he is the Lord. They will worship God and offer many sacrifices. They will make promises to the Lord and will keep them. 22 The Lord will punish the Egyptians, but then he will heal them. They will come back to the Lord, and he will listen to their prayers and heal them.
23 At that time there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will go to Egypt, and the Egyptians will go to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship God together. 24 At that time Israel, Assyria, and Egypt will join together, which will be a blessing for the earth. 25 The Lord All-Powerful will bless them, saying, “Egypt, you are my people. Assyria, I made you. Israel, I own you. You are all blessed!”