1
A prophecy against Egypt:
See, the Lord rides on a swift cloud
and is coming to Egypt.
The idols of Egypt tremble before him,
and the hearts of the Egyptians melt with fear.
2
"I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian -
brother will fight against brother,
neighbor against neighbor,
city against city,
kingdom against kingdom.
3
The Egyptians will lose heart,
and I will bring their plans to nothing;
they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead,
the mediums and the spiritists.
4
I will hand the Egyptians over
to the power of a cruel master,
and a fierce king will rule over them,"
declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.
5
The waters of the river will dry up,
and the riverbed will be parched and dry.
6
The canals will stink;
the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up.
The reeds and rushes will wither,
7
also the plants along the Nile,
at the mouth of the river.
Every sown field along the Nile
will become parched, will blow away and be no more.
8
The fishermen will groan and lament,
all who cast hooks into the Nile;
those who throw nets on the water
will pine away.
9
Those who work with combed flax will despair,
the weavers of fine linen will lose hope.
10
The workers in cloth will be dejected,
and all the wage earners will be sick at heart.
11
The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools;
the wise counselors of Pharaoh give senseless advice.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
"I am one of the wise men,
a disciple of the ancient kings"?
12
Where are your wise men now?
Let them show you and make known
what the Lord Almighty
has planned against Egypt.
13
The officials of Zoan have become fools,
the leaders of Memphis are deceived;
the cornerstones of her peoples
have led Egypt astray.
14
The Lord has poured into them
a spirit of dizziness;
they make Egypt stagger in all that she does,
as a drunkard staggers around in his vomit.
15
There is nothing Egypt can do -
head or tail, palm branch or reed.