Isaiah 19:5-6

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 19:5

And the waters shall fail from the sea ,.... Which Kimchi understands figuratively of the destruction of the Egyptians by the king of Assyria, compared to the drying up of the waters of the Nile; and others think that the failure of their trade by sea is meant, which brought great revenues into the kingdom: but, by what follows, it seems best to take the words in a literal sense, of the waters of the river Nile, which being dried up, as in the next clause, could not empty themselves into the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 19:6

And they shall turn the rivers far away ,.... The river Nile, called "rivers", the plural for the singular, because of the abundance of water in it; or its seven streams, with other rivulets, derived from it. Some make the "they" here to refer to the kings of Egypt, and interpret the words of some projects of theirs, by which the course of the river was turned to great disadvantage; particularly they understand it of the twelve tyrants that reigned after Sethon, to whom they ascribe the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 19:5

The river shall be wasted and dried up - The Nile shall not overflow its banks; and if no inundation, the land must become barren. For, as there is little or no rain in Egypt, its fertility depends on the overflowing of the Nile. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 19:6

Shall turn the rivers far away "Shall become putrid" - האזניחו heeznichu . This sense of the word, which Simonis gives in his Lexicon, from the meaning of it in Arabic, suits the place much better than any other interpretation hitherto given; and that the word in Hebrew had some such signification, is probable from 2 Chronicles 29:19 , where the Vulgate renders it by polluit , polluted, and the Targum, by profaned, and made abominable, which the context in that place seems plainly to... 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 19:2-10

A picture of penalty. The threatened penalty of Egypt as painted by the prophet here will, on examination, be found to be essentially the penalty with which God causes sin to be visited always and everywhere. I. STRIFE , especially internal strife ( Isaiah 19:2 ). The guilty nation will find itself plunged into civil war (Egypt, Greece, Rome, France, America—northern and southern states, etc.), or rent with bitter and vindictive factions; the guilty family will have its domestic... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 19:5

The waters shall fail from the sea . By "the sea" it is generally allowed that the Nile must be meant, as in Isaiah 18:2 and Nahum 3:8 . The failure might be caused by deficient rains in Abyssinia and Equatorial Africa, producing an insufficient inundation. It might be aggravated by the neglect of dykes and canals, which would be the natural consequence of civil disorders. Wasted and dried up ; rather, parched and dried up . Allowance must be made for Oriental hyperbole. The... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 19:5-10

The drying up of the Nile. Nothing has left a deeper mark on the traditions of Eastern lands than the impressions of burning heat, the drying up of springs, the consequent suffering. Egypt was the "gift of the Nile," Herodotus said. Well might the presence or absence of its waters denote the pleasure or the wrath of Deity. I. THE DESCRIPTION . The Pelusiac arm of the Nile is dried. The neglected canals, dykes, and reservoirs become stagnant, the vegetation withers. The bright oasis... read more

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