Isaiah 19

¹²On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn male, both man and beast, and I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord.

⁷Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him—even those who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. So shall it be! Amen.

¹¹When we heard this, our hearts melted and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in the heavens above and on the earth below.

¹⁹Egypt will become desolate, and Edom a desert wasteland, because of the violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood.

¹³This is what the Lord God says: I will destroy the idols and put an end to the images in Memphis. There will no longer be a prince in Egypt, and I will instill fear in that land.

⁴⁴I will punish Bel in Babylon. I will make him spew out what he swallowed. The nations will no longer stream to him; even the wall of Babylon will fall.

²²And when the three hundred rams’ horns sounded, the Lord set all the men in the camp against one another with their swords. The army fled to Beth-shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel-meholah near Tabbath.

²⁰Then Saul and all his troops assembled and marched to the battle, and they found the Philistines in total confusion, with each man wielding the sword against his neighbor.

³⁶A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’

¹²The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but will receive one hour of authority as kings along with the beast.

¹³These kings have one purpose: to yield their power and authority to the beast.

²⁵Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.

²¹And I will summon a sword against Gog on all My mountains, declares the Lord God, and every man’s sword will be against his brother.

¹⁹When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists who whisper and mutter, shouldn’t a people consult their God instead? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?

²So the king gave orders to summon the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers to explain his dreams. When they came and stood before the king,

¹³So Saul died for his unfaithfulness to the Lord, because he did not keep the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance,

²⁵who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who confounds the wise and turns their knowledge into nonsense,

³⁰There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the Lord.

¹⁶While he was still speaking, the king asked, “Have we made you the counselor to the king? Stop! Why be struck down?” So the prophet stopped, but he said, “I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not heeded my advice.”

¹⁷Then Amaziah king of Judah took counsel and sent word to the king of Israel Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu. “Come, let us meet face to face,” he said.

⁴so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old alike, naked and barefoot, with bared buttocks—to Egypt’s shame.

¹⁹Therefore this is what the Lord God says: I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who will carry off its wealth, seize its spoil, and remove its plunder. This will be the wages for his army.

²⁶I will deliver them into the hands of those who seek their lives—of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. But after this, Egypt will be inhabited as in days of old, declares the Lord.

⁸You have not delivered me to the enemy; You have set my feet in the open.

⁷When Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah, he said, “God has delivered him into my hand, for he has trapped himself by entering a town with gates and bars.”

²“So I will incite Egyptian against Egyptian; brother will fight against brother, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.

¹²I will make the streams dry up and sell the land to the wicked. By the hands of foreigners I will bring desolation upon the land and everything in it. I, the Lord, have spoken.

³⁶Therefore this is what the Lord says: “Behold, I will plead your case and take vengeance on your behalf; I will dry up her sea and make her springs run dry.

¹⁸And if the people of Egypt will not go up and enter in, then the rain will not fall on them; this will be the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

¹¹They will pass through the sea of distress and strike the waves of the sea; all the depths of the Nile will dry up. The pride of Assyria will be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt will depart.

²⁵I have dug wells and drunk foreign waters. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”

¹⁸The fish in the Nile will die, the river will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink its water.’”

¹¹Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Do reeds flourish without water?

²⁴I have dug wells and drunk foreign waters. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”

³But when she could no longer hide him, she got him a papyrus basket and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in the basket and set it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.

⁶The waters of Nimrim are dried up, and the grass is withered; the vegetation is gone, and the greenery is no more.

⁴The ground is cracked because no rain has fallen on the land. The farmers are ashamed; they cover their heads.

³On the great waters came the grain of Shihor; the harvest of the Nile was the revenue of Tyre; she was the merchant of the nations.

²⁰Blessed are those who sow beside abundant waters, who let the ox and donkey range freely.

¹⁷The seeds lie shriveled beneath the clods; the storehouses are in ruins; the granaries are broken down, for the grain has withered away.

¹⁸How the cattle groan! The herds wander in confusion because they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.

¹³Now it is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land.

¹⁰Fishermen will stand by the shore; from En-gedi to En-eglaim they will spread their nets to catch fish of many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea.

¹⁵The foe pulls all of them up with a hook; he catches them in his dragnet, and gathers them in his fishing net; so he rejoices gladly.

⁵We remember the fish we ate freely in Egypt, along with the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic.

²¹The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. And there was blood throughout the land of Egypt.

⁷Of embroidered fine linen from Egypt they made your sail, which served as your banner. Of blue and purple from the coasts of Elishah they made your awning.

¹⁶I have decked my bed with coverings, with colored linen from Egypt.

²⁸Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and Kue; the royal merchants purchased them from Kue.

⁵And the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers and canals and ponds, and cause the frogs to come up onto the land of Egypt.’”

¹⁹And the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over their rivers and canals and ponds and all the reservoirs—that they may become blood.’ There will be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in the vessels of wood and stone.”

¹⁰For the land that you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated on foot, like a vegetable garden.

²²They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, dwelled. It had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.

⁴For though their princes are at Zoan and their envoys have arrived in Hanes,

⁴³when He performed His signs in Egypt and His wonders in the fields of Zoan.

²²So Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.

³⁰Solomon’s wisdom was greater than that of all the men of the East, greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.

³⁸So Pharaoh asked them, “Can we find anyone like this man, in whom the Spirit of God abides?”

³⁹Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as discerning and wise as you.

²⁰Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

¹³Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or informed Him as His counselor?

¹⁴Whom did He consult to enlighten Him, and who taught Him the paths of justice? Who imparted knowledge to Him and showed Him the way of understanding?

⁷Who then is like Me? Let him say so! Let him declare his case before Me, since I established an ancient people. Let him foretell the things to come, and what is to take place.

²¹Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.

¹⁰You were secure in your wickedness; you said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray; you told yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’

¹¹But disaster will come upon you; you will not know how to charm it away. A calamity will befall you that you will be unable to ward off. Devastation will happen to you suddenly and unexpectedly.

²⁸But where are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them rise up in your time of trouble and save you if they can; for your gods are as numerous as your cities, O Judah.

¹³This is what the Lord God says: I will destroy the idols and put an end to the images in Memphis. There will no longer be a prince in Egypt, and I will instill fear in that land.

¹⁶The men of Memphis and Tahpanhes have shaved the crown of your head.

¹⁹Pack your bags for exile, O daughter dwelling in Egypt! For Memphis will be laid waste, destroyed and uninhabited.

⁴The cornerstone will come from Judah, the tent peg from him, as well as the battle bow and every ruler together.

¹⁴“Announce it in Egypt, and proclaim it in Migdol; proclaim it in Memphis and Tahpanhes: ‘Take your positions and prepare yourself, for the sword devours those around you.’

¹¹The princes of Zoan are mere fools; Pharaoh’s wise counselors give senseless advice. How can you say to Pharaoh, “I am one of the wise, a son of eastern kings”?

¹¹For this reason God will send them a powerful delusion so that they believe the lie,

²⁰And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab to march up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one suggested this, and another that.

²¹Then a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord, and said, ‘I will entice him.’ ‘By what means?’ asked the Lord.

⁷For when any Israelite or any foreigner dwelling in Israel separates himself from Me, sets up idols in his heart, and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face, and then comes to the prophet to inquire of Me, I the Lord will answer him Myself.

⁸I will set My face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb; I will cut him off from among My people. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

²⁵They grope in the darkness without light; He makes them stagger like drunkards.

¹⁰You were secure in your wickedness; you said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray; you told yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’

¹¹But disaster will come upon you; you will not know how to charm it away. A calamity will befall you that you will be unable to ward off. Devastation will happen to you suddenly and unexpectedly.

²⁷“Then you are to tell them that this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Drink, get drunk, and vomit. Fall down and never get up again, because of the sword I will send among you.’

¹⁴So the Lord will cut off Israel’s head and tail, both palm branch and reed in a single day.

¹⁵The head is the elder and honorable man, and the tail is the prophet who teaches lies.

²For when you eat the fruit of your labor, blessings and prosperity will be yours.

²³There is profit in all labor, but mere talk leads only to poverty.

¹⁷Though the fig tree does not bud and no fruit is on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the sheep are cut off from the fold and no cattle are in the stalls,

¹¹I have summoned a drought on the fields and on the mountains, on the grain, new wine, and oil, and on whatever the ground yields, on man and beast, and on all the labor of your hands.”

¹¹and to aspire to live quietly, to attend to your own matters, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you.

¹²Then you will behave properly toward outsiders, without being dependent on anyone.

¹³Look at your troops—they are like your women! The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire consumes their bars.

³⁰The warriors of Babylon have stopped fighting; they sit in their strongholds. Their strength is exhausted; they have become like women. Babylon’s homes have been set ablaze, the bars of her gates are broken.

³⁷A sword is against her horses and chariots and against all the foreigners in her midst, and they will become like women. A sword is against her treasuries, and they will be plundered.

⁵Yes, this is what the Lord says: “A cry of panic is heard—a cry of terror, not of peace.

⁶Ask now, and see: Can a male give birth? Why then do I see every man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor and every face turned pale?

¹⁵The Lord will devote to destruction the gulf of the Sea of Egypt; with a scorching wind He will sweep His hand over the Euphrates. He will split it into seven streams for men to cross with dry sandals.

³²Yet today they will halt at Nob, shaking a fist at the mount of Daughter Zion, at the hill of Jerusalem.

²⁴The Lord of Hosts has sworn: “Surely, as I have planned, so will it be; as I have purposed, so will it stand.

³⁵All the peoples of the earth are counted as nothing, and He does as He pleases with the army of heaven and the peoples of the earth. There is no one who can restrain His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’”

¹In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked and captured all the fortified cities of Judah.

²the Lord had already spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, “Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and the sandals from your feet.” And Isaiah did so, walking around naked and barefoot.

³Then the Lord said, “Just as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and omen against Egypt and Cush,

¹⁰I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’

¹¹I summon a bird of prey from the east, a man for My purpose from a far-off land. Truly I have spoken, and truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, and I will surely do it.

²⁸Those who escape the sword will return from Egypt to Judah, few in number, and the whole remnant of Judah who went to dwell in the land of Egypt will know whose word will stand, Mine or theirs!

²⁹This will be a sign to you that I will punish you in this place, declares the Lord, so that you may know that My threats of harm against you will surely stand.

⁹For then I will restore pure lips to the peoples, that all may call upon the name of the Lord and serve Him shoulder to shoulder.

²¹The Lord will make Himself known to Egypt, and on that day Egypt will acknowledge the Lord. They will worship with sacrifices and offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and fulfill them.

¹¹“On that day many nations will join themselves to the Lord, and they will become My people. I will dwell among you, and you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent Me to you.

¹⁶And if they will diligently learn the ways of My people and swear by My name, saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives’—just as they once taught My people to swear by Baal—then they will be established among My people.

¹¹On that day the Lord will extend His hand a second time to recover the remnant of His people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

²³By Myself I have sworn; truth has gone out from My mouth, a word that will not be revoked: Every knee will bow before Me, every tongue will swear allegiance.

²⁴Surely they will say of Me, ‘In the Lord alone are righteousness and strength.’” All who rage against Him will come to Him and be put to shame.

¹⁸Early the next morning, Jacob took the stone that he had placed under his head, and he set it up as a pillar. He poured oil on top of it,

¹⁰And when they came to Geliloth near the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an imposing altar there by the Jordan.

⁴And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. Early the next morning he got up and built an altar at the base of the mountain, along with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.

²⁶That is why we said, ‘Let us take action and build an altar for ourselves, but not for burnt offerings or sacrifices.

⁷Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” So Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

¹⁵Even those far away will come and build the temple of the Lord, and you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent Me to you. This will happen if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God.”

¹⁵Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”

¹³as we await the blessed hope and glorious appearance of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

²¹Speak up and present your case—yes, let them take counsel together. Who foretold this long ago? Who announced it from ancient times? Was it not I, the Lord? There is no other God but Me, a righteous God and Savior; there is none but Me.

²²Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.

¹¹Today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord!

⁴so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old alike, naked and barefoot, with bared buttocks—to Egypt’s shame.

³⁴So the Reubenites and Gadites named the altar Witness, for they said, “It is a witness between us that the Lord is God.”

⁹They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the sea is full of water.

¹¹For My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place, incense and pure offerings will be presented in My name, because My name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord of Hosts.

⁴³then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name.

¹⁶Then the men feared the Lord greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to Him.

⁵you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

²⁷They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual blessings, they are obligated to minister to them with material blessings.

²⁸So after I have completed this service and have safely delivered this bounty to them, I will set off to Spain by way of you.

¹¹No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who have been trained by it.

³⁹See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand.

¹Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled by your iniquity.

²After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His presence.

¹⁰Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

¹⁴This is what the Lord says: “The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, along with the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you and will be yours; they will trudge behind you; they will come over in chains and bow down to you. They will confess to you: ‘God is indeed with you, and there is no other; there is no other God.’”

¹⁶There will be a highway for the remnant of His people who remain from Assyria, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.

⁸And there will be a highway called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not travel it—only those who walk in the Way—and fools will not stray onto it.

⁹No lion will be there, and no vicious beast will go up on it. Such will not be found there, but the redeemed will walk upon it.

¹³And in that day a great ram’s horn will sound, and those who were perishing in Assyria will come forth with those who were exiles in Egypt. And they will worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

¹⁸For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

¹⁹Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household,

³A voice of one calling: “Prepare the way for the Lord in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert.

⁴Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low; the uneven ground will become smooth, and the rugged land a plain.

⁶This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.

⁷I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace, given me through the working of His power.

⁸This is what the Lord says: “As the new wine is found in a cluster of grapes, and men say, ‘Do not destroy it, for it contains a blessing,’ so I will act on behalf of My servants; I will not destroy them all.

²I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

¹¹It is just as the Scripture says: “Anyone who believes in Him will never be put to shame.”

¹²For there is no difference between Jew and Greek: The same Lord is Lord of all, and gives richly to all who call on Him,

⁹so that the Gentiles may glorify God for His mercy. As it is written: “Therefore I will praise You among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to Your name.”

¹⁰Again, it says: “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people.”

¹⁹I will establish a sign among them, and I will send survivors from among them to the nations—to Tarshish, Put, and the archers of Lud; to Tubal, Javan, and the islands far away who have not heard of My fame or seen My glory. So they will proclaim My glory among the nations.

²⁰And they will bring all your brothers from all the nations as a gift to the Lord on horses and chariots and wagons, on mules and camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the Lord, “just as the Israelites bring an offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord.”

¹Praise the Lord, all you nations! Extol Him, all you peoples!

²For great is His loving devotion toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Hallelujah!

²³For when he sees his children around him, the work of My hands, they will honor My name, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and they will stand in awe of the God of Israel.

²⁴including us, whom He has called not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles?

²⁵As He says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘My People’ who are not My people, and I will call her ‘My Beloved’ who is not My beloved,”

²³And I will sow her as My own in the land, and I will have compassion on ‘No Compassion.’ I will say to those called ‘Not My People,’ ‘You are My people,’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”

⁹But the Lord’s portion is His people, Jacob His allotted inheritance.

¹⁵May you be blessed by the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

⁸The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me. O Lord, Your loving devotion endures forever—do not abandon the works of Your hands.