1. The oracle of Egypt. See, the Lord is riding on a swift cloudand shall come into Egypt;and the idols of Egypt shall tremble at His presence,and the heart of Egypt shall melt in its midst.
2. I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians,and they shall fight every one against his brother,and every one against his neighbor,city against city,and kingdom against kingdom.
3. The spirit of Egypt shall be discouraged in their midst,and I will destroy their counsel;then they shall seek for the idols and for the charmersand for the mediums and the sorcerers.
4. The Egyptians I will give overinto the hand of a cruel lord,and a fierce king shall rule over them,says the Lord, the Lord of Hosts.
5. The waters from the sea shall dry up,and the river shall be parched and dry.
6. The canals shall emit a stench;the streams of Egypt shall diminish and dry up;the reeds and rushes shall wither.
7. The papyrus reeds by the brooks,by the mouth of the brooks,and everything sown by the brooks,shall wither, be driven away, and be no more.
8. The fishermen also shall mourn,and all those who cast a line into the brooks shall lament,and those who spread nets on the watersshall languish.
9. Moreover those who work with fine flaxand those who weave white cloth shall be humiliated;
10. and the pillars of Egypt shall be crushed.All the hired workers shall be grieved in soul.
11. Surely the princes of Zoan are fools;the counsel of the wise counselors of Pharaoh has become stupid.How can you say to Pharaoh,“I am a son of the wise,a son of ancient kings?”
12. Where are they? Where are your wise men?Let them tell you now, and let them understandwhat the Lord of Hostshas purposed against Egypt.
13. The princes of Zoan have become fools;the princes of Memphis are deceived;they have also seduced Egypt,even those who are the cornerstone of her tribes.
14. The Lord has mingleda perverse spirit in her;so they have caused Egypt to err in her every work,as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.