1. An oracle against Egypt: Look, the Lord rides on a swift cloud and is coming to Egypt.Egypt’s idols will tremble before Him, and Egypt’s heart will melt within it.
2. I will provoke Egypt against Egypt;each will fight against his brother and each against his friend,city against city, kingdom against kingdom.
3. Egypt’s spirit will be disturbed within it,and I will frustrate its plans.Then they will seek idols, ghosts,spirits of the dead, and spiritists.
4. I will deliver Egypt into the hands of harsh masters, and a strong king will rule it.This is the declaration of the Lord God of Hosts.
5. The waters of the sea will dry up,and the river will be parched and dry.
6. The channels will stink;they will dwindle, and Egypt’s canals will be parched.Reed and rush will die.
7. The reeds by the Nile, by the mouth of the river,and all the cultivated areas of the Nilewill wither, blow away, and vanish.
8. Then the fishermen will mourn.All those who cast hooks into the Nile will lament,and those who spread nets on the water will shrivel up.
9. Those who work with flax will be dismayed; the combers and weavers will turn pale.
10. Egypt’s weavers will be dejected;all her wage earners will be demoralized.
11. The princes of Zoan are complete fools; Pharaoh’s wisest advisers give stupid advice!How can you say to Pharaoh,“I am one of the wise,a student of eastern kings”?
12. Where then are your wise men?Let them tell you and revealwhat the Lord of Hosts has planned against Egypt.
13. The princes of Zoan have been fools;the princes of Memphis are deceived. Her tribal chieftains have led Egypt astray.
14. The Lord has mixed within her a spirit of confusion.The leaders have made Egypt stagger in all she does,as a drunkard staggers in his vomit.
15. No head or tail, palm or reed, will be able to do anything for Egypt.
16. On that day Egypt will be like women. She will tremble with fear because of the threatening hand of the Lord of Hosts when He raises it against her.
17. The land of Judah will terrify Egypt; whenever Judah is mentioned, Egypt will tremble because of what the Lord of Hosts has planned against it.