18:1 The land of buzzing wings is as good as dead, 1
the one beyond the rivers of Cush,
18:2 that sends messengers by sea,
who glide over the water’s surface in boats made of papyrus.
Go, you swift messengers,
to a nation of tall, smooth-skinned people, 2
to a people that are feared far and wide, 3
to a nation strong and victorious, 4
whose land rivers divide. 5
18:3 All you who live in the world,
who reside on the earth,
you will see a signal flag raised on the mountains;
you will hear a trumpet being blown.
18:4 For this is what the Lord has told me:
“I will wait 6 and watch from my place,
like scorching heat produced by the sunlight, 7
like a cloud of mist 8 in the heat 9 of harvest.” 10
18:5 For before the harvest, when the bud has sprouted,
and the ripening fruit appears, 11
he will cut off the unproductive shoots 12 with pruning knives;
he will prune the tendrils. 13
18:6 They will all be left 14 for the birds of the hills
and the wild animals; 15
the birds will eat them during the summer,
and all the wild animals will eat them during the winter.
18:7 At that time
tribute will be brought to the Lord who commands armies,
by a people that are tall and smooth-skinned,
a people that are feared far and wide,
a nation strong and victorious,
whose land rivers divide. 16
The tribute 17 will be brought to the place where the Lord who commands armies has chosen to reside, on Mount Zion. 18
19:1 Here is a message about Egypt:
Look, the Lord rides on a swift-moving cloud
and approaches Egypt.
The idols of Egypt tremble before him;
the Egyptians lose their courage. 19
19:2 “I will provoke civil strife in Egypt, 20
brothers will fight with each other,
as will neighbors,
cities, and kingdoms. 21
19:3 The Egyptians will panic, 22
and I will confuse their strategy. 23
They will seek guidance from the idols and from the spirits of the dead,
from the pits used to conjure up underworld spirits, and from the magicians. 24
19:4 I will hand Egypt over to a harsh master;
a powerful king will rule over them,”
says the sovereign master, 25 the Lord who commands armies.
19:5 The water of the sea will be dried up,
and the river will dry up and be empty. 26
19:6 The canals 27 will stink; 28
the streams of Egypt will trickle and then dry up;
the bulrushes and reeds will decay,
19:7 along with the plants by the mouth of the river. 29
All the cultivated land near the river
will turn to dust and be blown away. 30
19:8 The fishermen will mourn and lament,
all those who cast a fishhook into the river,
and those who spread out a net on the water’s surface will grieve. 31
19:9 Those who make clothes from combed flax will be embarrassed;
those who weave will turn pale. 32
19:10 Those who make cloth 33 will be demoralized; 34
all the hired workers will be depressed. 35
19:11 The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools; 36
Pharaoh’s wise advisers give stupid advice.
How dare you say to Pharaoh,
“I am one of the sages,
one well-versed in the writings of the ancient kings?” 37
19:12 But where, oh where, are your wise men? 38
Let them tell you, let them find out
what the Lord who commands armies has planned for Egypt.
19:13 The officials of Zoan are fools,
the officials of Memphis 39 are misled;
the rulers 40 of her tribes lead Egypt astray.
19:14 The Lord has made them undiscerning; 41
they lead Egypt astray in all she does,
so that she is like a drunk sliding around in his own vomit. 42
19:15 Egypt will not be able to do a thing,
head or tail, shoots and stalk. 43
19:16 At that time 44 the Egyptians 45 will be like women. 46 They will tremble and fear because the Lord who commands armies brandishes his fist against them. 47 19:17 The land of Judah will humiliate Egypt. Everyone who hears about Judah will be afraid because of what the Lord who commands armies is planning to do to them. 48
1 tn Heb “Woe [to] the land of buzzing wings.” On הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) see the note on the first phrase of 1:4.
sn The significance of the qualifying phrase “buzzing wings” is uncertain. Some suggest that the designation points to Cush as a land with many insects. Another possibility is that it refers to the swiftness with which this land’s messengers travel (v. 2a); they move over the sea as swiftly as an insect flies through the air. For a discussion of the options, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:359-60.
2 tn The precise meaning of the qualifying terms is uncertain. מְמֻשָּׁךְ (mÿmushakh) appears to be a Pual participle from the verb מָשַׁךְ (mashakh, “to draw, extend”). Lexicographers theorize that it here refers to people who “stretch out,” as it were, or are tall. See BDB 604 s.v. מָשַׁךְ, and HALOT 645-46 s.v. משׁךְ. מוֹרָט (morat) is taken as a Pual participle from מָרַט (marat), which can mean “to pull out [hair],” in the Qal, “become bald” in the Niphal, and “be wiped clean” in the Pual. Lexicographers theorize that the word here refers to people with bare, or smooth, skin. See BDB 598-99 s.v. מָרַט, and HALOT 634-35 s.v. מרט. These proposed meanings, which are based on etymological speculation, must be regarded as tentative.
3 tn Heb “from it and onwards.” HALOT 245 s.v. הָלְאָה suggests the translation “far and wide.”
4 tn Once more the precise meaning of the qualifying terms is uncertain. The expression קַו־קָו (qav-qav) is sometimes related to a proposed Arabic cognate and taken to mean “strength” (see BDB 876 II קַו). Others, on the basis of Isa 28:10, 13, understand the form as gibberish (literally, “kav, kav”) and take it to be a reference to this nation’s strange, unknown language. The form מְבוּסָה (mÿvusah) appears to be derived from בּוּס (bus, “to trample”), so lexicographers suggest the meaning “trampling” or “subjugation,” i.e., a nation that subdues others. See BDB 101 s.v. בּוּס and HALOT 541 s.v. מְבוּסָה. These proposals, which are based on etymological speculation, must be regarded as tentative.
5 tn The precise meaning of the verb בָּזָא (baza’), which occurs only in this oracle (see also v. 7) in the OT, is uncertain. BDB 102 s.v. suggests “divide” on the basis of alleged Aramaic and Arabic cognates; HALOT 117 s.v., citing an alleged Arabic cognate, suggests “wash away.”
6 tn Or “be quiet, inactive”; NIV “will remain quiet.”
7 tn Heb “like the glowing heat because of light.” The precise meaning of the line is uncertain.
8 tn Heb “a cloud of dew,” or “a cloud of light rain.”
9 tc Some medieval Hebrew
10 sn It is unclear how the comparisons in v. 4b relate to the preceding statement. How is waiting and watching similar to heat or a cloud? For a discussion of interpretive options, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:362.
11 tn Heb “and the unripe, ripening fruit is maturing.”
12 tn On the meaning of זַלְזַל (zalzal, “shoot [of the vine] without fruit buds”) see HALOT 272 s.v. *זַלְזַל.
13 tn Heb “the tendrils he will remove, he will cut off.”
14 tn Heb “they will be left together” (so NASB).
15 tn Heb “the beasts of the earth” (so KJV, NASB).
16 tn On the interpretive difficulties of this verse, see the notes at v. 2, where the same terminology is used.
17 tn The words “the tribute” are repeated here in the translation for clarity.
18 tn Heb “to the place of the name of the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts], Mount Zion.”
19 tn Heb “and the heart of Egypt melts within it.”
20 tn Heb I will provoke Egypt against Egypt” (NAB similar).
21 tn Heb “and they will fight, a man against his brother, and a man against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.” Civil strife will extend all the way from the domestic level to the provincial arena.
22 tn Heb “and the spirit of Egypt will be laid waste in its midst.”
23 tn The verb בָּלַע (bala’, “confuse”) is a homonym of the more common בָּלַע (bala’, “swallow”); see HALOT 135 s.v. I בלע.
24 tn Heb “they will inquire of the idols and of the spirits of the dead and of the ritual pits and of the magicians.” Hebrew אוֹב (’ov, “ritual pit”) refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. See the note on “incantations” in 8:19.
25 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
26 tn Heb “will dry up and be dry.” Two synonyms are joined for emphasis.
27 tn Heb “rivers” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, CEV “streams”; TEV “channels.”
28 tn The verb form appears as a Hiphil in the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa; the form in MT may be a so-called “mixed form,” reflecting the Hebrew Hiphil stem and the functionally corresponding Aramaic Aphel stem. See HALOT 276 s.v. I זנח.
29 tn Heb “the plants by the river, by the mouth of the river.”
30 tn Heb “will dry up, [being] scattered, and it will vanish.”
31 tn Or perhaps, “will disappear”; cf. TEV “will be useless.”
32 tn BDB 301 s.v. חוֹרִי suggests the meaning “white stuff” for חוֹרִי (khori); the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa has חָוֵרוּ (khaveru), probably a Qal perfect, third plural form of חוּר, (khur, “be white, pale”). See HALOT 299 s.v. I חור. The latter reading is assumed in the translation above.
33 tn Some interpret שָׁתֹתֶיהָ (shatoteha) as “her foundations,” i.e., leaders, nobles. See BDB 1011 s.v. שָׁת. Others, on the basis of alleged cognates in Akkadian and Coptic, repoint the form שְׁתִיתֶיהָ (shÿtiteha) and translate “her weavers.” See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:370.
34 tn Heb “crushed.” Emotional distress is the focus of the context (see vv. 8-9, 10b).
35 tn Heb “sad of soul”; cf. NIV, NLT “sick at heart.”
36 tn Or “certainly the officials of Zoan are fools.” אַךְ (’akh) can carry the sense, “only, nothing but,” or “certainly, surely.”
37 tn Heb “A son of wise men am I, a son of ancient kings.” The term בֶּן (ben, “son of”) could refer to literal descent, but many understand the word, at least in the first line, in its idiomatic sense of “member [of a guild].” See HALOT 138 s.v. בֶּן and J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:371. If this is the case, then one can take the word in a figurative sense in the second line as well, the “son of ancient kings” being one devoted to their memory as preserved in their literature.
38 tn Heb “Where are they? Where are your wise men?” The juxtaposition of the interrogative pronouns is emphatic. See HALOT 38 s.v. אֶי.
39 tn Heb “Noph” (so KJV); most recent English versions substitute the more familiar “Memphis.”
40 tn Heb “the cornerstone.” The singular form should be emended to a plural.
41 tn Heb “the Lord has mixed into her midst a spirit of blindness.”
42 tn Heb “like the going astray of a drunkard in his vomit.”
43 tn Heb “And there will not be for Egypt a deed, which head and tail, shoot and stalk can do.” In 9:14-15 the phrase “head or tail” refers to leaders and prophets, respectively. This interpretation makes good sense in this context, where both leaders and advisers (probably including prophets and diviners) are mentioned (vv. 11-14). Here, as in 9:14, “shoots and stalk” picture a reed, which symbolizes the leadership of the nation in its entirety.
44 tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV), likewise at the beginning of vv. 18 and 19.
45 tn Heb “Egypt,” which stands by metonymy for the country’s inhabitants.
46 sn As the rest of the verse indicates, the point of the simile is that the Egyptians will be relatively weak physically and will wilt in fear before the Lord’s onslaught.
47 tn Heb “and he will tremble and be afraid because of the brandishing of the hand of the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts], which he brandishes against him.” Since according to the imagery here the Lord’s “hand” is raised as a weapon against the Egyptians, the term “fist” has been used in the translation.
48 tn Heb “and the land of Judah will become [a source of] shame to Egypt, everyone to whom one mentions it [i.e., the land of Judah] will fear because of the plan of the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] which he is planning against him.”