Isaiah 19:11-13

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 19:1-17

Though the land of Egypt had of old been a house of bondage to the people of God, where they had been ruled with rigour, yet among the unbelieving Jews there still remained much of the humour of their fathers, who said, Let us make us a captain and return into Egypt. Upon all occasions they trusted to Egypt for help (Isa. 30:2), and thither they fled, in disobedience to God's express command, when things were brought to the last extremity in their own country, Jer. 43:7. Rabshakeh upbraided... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 19:11

Surely the princes of Zoan are fools ,.... Zoan was a very ancient city of Egypt, it was built within seven years of Hebron in the land of Judah, Numbers 13:22 here it was that the Lord did those miracles, by the hands of Moses and Aaron, before Pharaoh and his people, in order to oblige him to let Israel go, Psalm 78:12 by which it appears that it was then the royal city, as it seems to have been now; since mention is made of the princes of it, who usually have their residence where... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 19:12

Where are they? where are thy wise men ?.... The magicians and soothsayers, the diviners and astrologers, who pretended, by their magic art and skill in judicial astrology, to foretell things to come: this is an address to the king of Egypt, who had such persons about him, and encouraged them, by consulting them on occasion, and rewarding them: and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the Lord of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt ; or, "against it"; let them tell, if they... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 19:13

The princes of Zoan are become fools ,.... Or infatuated, in their counsels to Pharaoh, and by giving heed to the magicians and diviners; See Gill on Isaiah 19:11 , the princes of Noph are deceived ; called Moph, in Hosea 9:6 where our translation renders it Memphis; and so do the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions here; the Arabic version has it Menphis; the Syriac version Mophis; and the Targum Mephes; the city of Memphis is no doubt intended, which was the chief of the first of... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 19:11

The counsel of the wise counselors of Pharaoh is become brutish "Have counseled a brutish counsel" - The sentence as it now stands in the Hebrew, is imperfect: it wants the verb. Archbishop Secker conjectures that the words פרעה יועצי yoatsey pharoh should be transposed; which would in some degree remove the difficulty. But it is to be observed, that the translator of the Vulgate seems to have found in his copy the verb יעצו yaatsu added after פרעה pharoh : Sapientes consiliarii... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 19:12

"Let them come" - Here too a word seems to have been left out of the text. After חכמיך chochameycha , thy wise men, two MSS., one ancient, add יבאו yibu , let them come; which, if we consider the form and construction of the sentence, has very much the appearance of being genuine: otherwise the connective conjunction at the beginning of the next member is not only superfluous but embarrassing. See also the Version of the Septuagint, in which the same deficiency is manifest. Let... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 19:13

Are deceived "They have caused," etc. - The text has וחתעו vehithu , And they have caused to err. Fifty of Kennicott's MSS., fifty-three of De Rossi's, and one of my own, ancient, thirty-two editions, and the Vulgate and Chaldee. omit the ו vau , and. Stay "Pillars" - פנת pinnath , to be pointed as plural pinnoth , without doubt. So Grotius, and so the Chaldee. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 19:1-17

THE BURDEN OF EGYPT . It has been doubted whether this prophecy refers to the conquest of Egypt by Piankhi, as related in the monument which he set up at Napata, or to that by Esarhaddon, of which we gain our knowledge from the inscriptions of his son, Asshur-bani-pal. In the former case, we must suppose it written as early as B.C. 735; in the latter, its date might be as late as B.C. 690. The division of Egypt, "kingdom against kingdom," is a circumstance rather in favor of the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 19:1-17

Egypt's punishment, a proof both of God's song-suffering and of His inexorable justice. The punishment of Egypt by the Assyrian conquest, on which the prophet enlarges in this chapter, may be regarded in a double light. I. AS STRONGLY EXHIBITING THE LONG - SUFFERING AND MERCY OF GOD . 1. Consider the long persistence of Egypt in sins of various kinds—idolatry, king-worship, practice of magic, kidnapping of slaves, cruel usage of captives, impurity, indecency;... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 19:11

Surely the princes of Zoan are fools . Zoan, or Tanis, which had been an insignificant city since the time of the shepherd-kings, came to the front once more at the time of the struggle between Egypt and Assyria. Esarhaddon made it the head of one of the petty kingdoms into which he divided Egypt. Early in the reign of his son it revolted, in conjunction with Sais and Mendes, but was ere long reduced to subjection by the Assyrians. Its king, Petu-bastes, was taken to Nineveh, and there... read more

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