Verses 1-15
b) Prophecies that give Warning not to Trust in False Help Against Assyria
α) EGYPT NOW IN TIME TO COME
Various expositors from Eichhorn to Hitzig have attacked the genuineness of this chapter in whole or in part. But one may judge in advance how little valid the alleged reasons for this are, by the fact that Knobel rejects them all, and is decided in his recognition of Isaiah, as its author. We may therefore spare ourselves the investigation of these doubts, and so much the more as in our exposition of particulars, it will appear how very much the thoughts and expressions correspond to Isaiah’s way of thinking and speaking. The chapter is very artistically arranged. It evidently divides into three parts of which the first (Isaiah 19:1-15) shows how the Lord by His judgments reveals His arm to the Egyptians (Isaiah 52:10; Isaiah 53:1); the second (Isaiah 19:16-17), as a transition, sets forth how Egypt fears before Jehovah; finally the third (Isaiah 19:18-25) presents the prospect that Egypt will fear the Lord as third in the confederation with Assyria and Israel.
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א) How the LORD reveals His arm to the Egyptians by severe judgments
1 The Burden of Egypt.
Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud,And 1shall come into Egypt:
And the idols of Egypt 2shall be moved at his presence,
And the heart of Egypt 3shall melt in the midst of it.
2 And I will 4set 5the Egyptians against the Egyptians:
And they shall fight every one against his brother,And every one against his 6neighbor;
City against city,
And kingdom against kingdom.
3 And the spirit of Egypt 7shall fail in the midst thereof;
And I will 8destroy the counsel thereof:
And they shall seek to the idols, and to the 9charmers,
And to 10them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizzards.
4 And 11the Egyptians will I 12give over into the hand of a 13cruel lord;
And a 14fierce king shall rule over them,
Saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts.
5 And the waters shall fail from the sea,
And the river shall be wasted and dried up.
6 And 15they shall turn the rivers far away;
And the brooks of 16defence shall be emptied and dried up:
17The reeds and flags shall wither.
7 The 18paper reeds by the brooks, 19by the mouth of the brooks,
And 20everything sown by the brooks,
Shall wither, be driven away, 21and be no more.
8 The fishers also shall mourn,
And all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament,And they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish..
9 Moreover they that work in fine flax,
And they that weave 22networks, shall be confounded.
10 And 23they shall be broken in the 24purposes thereof:
All that make sluices and ponds 25for fish.
11 26Surely the princes of Zoan are fools,
27The counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish:
How say ye unto Pharaoh,I am the son of the wise,
The son of ancient kings?
12 Where are they? where are thy wise men?
And let them tell thee now, and let them knowWhat the Lord of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.
13 The princes of Zoan are 28become fools,
The princes of Noph are deceived;
29They have also seduced Egypt, even they that are30 31the stay of the tribes thereof.
14 The Lord hath mingled 32a perverse spirit in the midst thereof:
And they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof,As a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.
15 Neither shall there be any work for Egypt,
Which the head or tail, branch or rush may do.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
Isaiah 19:1. נוע is one of the words that occur only in the first part of Isaiah 6:4; Isaiah 7:2; Isaiah 24:20; Isaiah 37:22.—קֶרֶב, in some sense as the enclosure that contains the לֵב or רוּחַ, frequent: Isaiah 26:9; Isaiah 63:11; Psalms 39:4; Psalms 51:12; Psalms 55:5, etc.——אלילים, see on Isaiah 2:8.——ולב מ׳ ימם, see on Isaiah 13:7.
Isaiah 19:2. On סִכְסֵךְ comp. at Isaiah 9:10.
Isaiah 19:3. נבקה comp. Green Gr., § 141, 1; Isaiah 24:1; Isaiah 24:3.——אִטִּים, ἅπ. λεγ., probably kindred to לְאַט, which is used of the soft murmuring of a brook, Isaiah 8:6, and of soft, slow, gentle stepping or acting, Genesis 33:14; 2 Samuel 18:5, etc.——אֹבוֹת and יִדְּעֹנִים, compare on Isaiah 8:19.
Isaiah 19:4. אֲדֹנִים, Plural, with the abstract notion of dominion, comp. Genesis 39:20; Genesis 42:30; Genesis 42:33; in Isa. again only Isaiah 26:13.——עַז Isaiah 25:3; Isaiah 43:16; Isaiah 56:11.——סכר, properly “to shut up,” only here in Isaiah.
Isaiah 19:5. The form נִשְּׁתוּ, as also נָשָֽׁתָּה Isaiah 41:17, and נָֽשְׁתָה Jeremiah 51:30 can be referred to שָׁתַת (comp. Psalms 73:9; Psalms 88:7), as is done by Hitzig, if the meaning “to seat oneself,” desidere suited our passage and Isaiah 41:17. But in both places (also Isaiah 19:5 on account of the מִן before הַיָּם) it is too evident that the meaning “exaruit, to become dry,” is demanded by the context. Moreover the whole of verse 5 is with little alteration taken from Job 14:11. For there it reads:—אָֽזְלוּ מַיִם מִנִּי־יָם וְנָהָר יֶֽחֱרַב וְיָבֵשׁ. It is seen that the expressions differ somewhat in the first clause, while in the second clause they are literally alike. Job employs the language as the figure for growing old and dying off, without any reference to the Nile. Isaiah applies it to the Nile particularly, and hence exchanges אזלו (diffluunt) for נשׁתו.
Isaiah 19:6. There is no substantive אֶזְנַח; so הֶֽאֶזְנִיחַ may not be taken as denominativum, though even Ewald (§ 126 b) adopts the view. Olshausen (§ 255 b) explains the form as simply a blunder; חִזְנִיחוּ is to be restored. The meaning must be “to produce, to spread a stench.”——The plural נהרות occurs only here in the first part of Isaiah; in the second part: Isaiah 41:18; Isaiah 42:15; Isaiah 43:2; Isaiah 43:19-20; Isaiah 44:27; Isaiah 47:2; Isaiah 50:2. נהרים Isaiah 18:1-2; Isaiah 18:7; Isaiah 33:21.——דָּלַל comp. Isaiah 38:14; Isaiah 17:4.——On מָצוֹר see Exeg. Com. on Isaiah 19:1.——יְאוֹר is an Egyptian word. According to Ebers (1. c. I. p. 338) the sacred name of the Nile in the hieroglyphic text is Hapi, the profane name, on the other hand, Aur. Along with the latter name often stands aa, i, e., “great,” therefore, Aur-aa = great river. The ancient hieratic form Aur became, in the mouth of the people, iar or ial (r and l are exchanged according to fancy in Egyptian, Ebers, p. 96). From Aur-aa came iaro. So the word sounds also in Koptic. The plural יארים occurs Isaiah 33:21, of water ditches, used for defence; Job 28:1 of the shafts that the miner digs. Otherwise the word is used only of the canals of the Nile: Exodus 7:19; Exodus 8:1, etc. Comp. Isaiah 7:18; Isaiah 37:25; 2 Kings 19:24.——קָנֶה “cane,” hence κανών, canalis, Isaiah 35:7; Isaiah 36:6; Isaiah 42:3; Isaiah 43:24; Isaiah 46:6.——סוּף “a reed,” Exodus 2:3; Exodus 2:5; only here in Isaiah. &קָמֵל קָמַל kindred to אָמַל) “marcescere, to languish,” occurs again only Isaiah 33:9.
Isaiah 19:7. עָרוֹת (from עָרָה, nudum esse, loca nuda), occurs only in this place. These ערות evidently correspond to the Egyptian אָֽחוּ (Genesis 41:2; Job 8:11), the Nile, or reed, or rush-meadow on the bank of the Nile. Comp. Ebers l. c. p. 338.——פי יאור can hardly signify “the mouthing.” For wherefore should only the meadows at the mouthing of the Nile wither? Rather (comp. Psalms 133:2) the mouth of the Nile here is the same as the lips of the Nile elsewhere (שְׂפַת חַיְאֹר Genesis 41:3, hieroglyphic sept., Ebers, l. c. p. 339.——מִזְרָע, ἅπ. λεγ. can mean here only “the place of sowing, the sowed field” (comp. זֶרַע שִׁהֹר Isaiah 23:3).——נדף, dispellere, dissipare, occurs again only Isaiah 41:2.——ואיננו a form of expression that occurs relatively the oftenest in Job 3:21; Job 23:8; Job 24:24; Job 27:19. Comp. beside Psalms 37:10; Psalms 103:16; Proverbs 23:5, etc.
Isaiah 19:8. אָנוּ comp. Isaiah 3:26.——חַכָּה and מכמרת are found only here in Isaiah; on the former compare Job 40:25; on the latter, Habakkuk 1:15.——אֻמְלָלוּ comp. on Isaiah 16:8.
Isaiah 19:9. פשׁתים שׂריקות are lina pectinata, i.e., linen stuff made of hackeled, pure, fine flax. שׂריקות is ἅπ. λεγ.; so also is חוֹרַי. The root of the latter חָוַר (Isaiah 29:22) means candidum, then nobilem, splendidum esse. We encounter this meaning again in הֹר nobilis, הֹרִי “fine, white bread,” (Genesis 40:16), probably, too, in the proper names חוּרָם (ingenuus) חִירָה (nobilitas). Accordingly הֹרַי would be “a fine white garment.” Whether the stuff was linen or cotton is not to be determined from the word itself. The distinction from פִשְׁתִּים rather favors the opinion that it was cotton. The ending ăj is an old singular ending; comp. Ewald, § 164, c; 177 a.
Isaiah 19:10. The word שָׁתוֹת occurs again only Psalms 11:3; and there means undoubtedly “pillars, posts.” This meaning suits perfectly in this place also. Only verse 10 is not to be connected with what precedes, but is to be construed as the theme for what follows, yet in the sense that the following verses specify exclusively the notion שׁתות. Only at the end of Isaiah 19:15 the underlying thought of Isaiah 19:10 recurs. For “head and tail, palm branch and rush” is only another expression for that which is called “foundation pillars and hired laborers.”——שֶׂכֶר (compare שָׂכִיר, mercenarius) means “merces, pay,” and occurs again only Proverbs 11:18. They are, therefore, “quœstum facientes, hired laborers;” a comprehensive designation of the lower classes.——The expression אגמי נפשׂ recalls אַגְמֵי מַיִם Isaiah 14:23. The meaning “troubled,” which some give to אגמי in our text, would form a solitary instance. Everywhere else the word means “stagnum, palus” (Isaiah 35:7; Isaiah 41:18; Isaiah 42:15), or “arundinetum” (Jeremiah 51:32). The word is used for the pools, puddles, swamps made by the Nile (Exodus 7:19; Exodus 8:1).
Isaiah 19:11. בָּעַר is verb. denom. from בָּעַר, brutus, stolidus. The Niph. only here in Isaiah; comp. Jeremiah 10:14; Jeremiah 10:21.——אֲנִי, this is said because the prophet has in mind a single priest: he thinks, perhaps, of the ʼαρχιερεύς, “the chief of the entire priesthood,” (Ebers, l. c. p. 344).
Isaiah 19:13. נואלו, “infatuated,” only here in Isa; comp. Numbers 12:11; Jeremiah 5:4; Jeremiah 50:36.——נִשָּׁא, “betrayed;” Niph. only here; Hiph. Isaiah 36:14; Isaiah 37:10.——נֹף is = מֹף. Memphis (comp. Delitzsch and Brugsch Hist. d’Egyptc).——פִנָּה “the corner;” then by metonymy for אֶבֶיּֽפ׳ “the corner-stone,” Job 38:6; comp. Isaiah 28:15; Jeremiah 51:26; Psalms 118:22.
Isaiah 19:14. עִוְעִים, “perverseness,” ἅπ. λεγ., compare רוּחַ שֶׁקֶר 1 Kings 22:22 sq.——בקרבה see on Isaiah 19:1. מָּסַךְ, Isaiah 5:22.
Isaiah 19:15. וְ before זנב and אגמון is here equivalent to “or” (comp Ewald, § 352, a; Jeremiah 44:28)
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. Jehovah draws near to the judgment against Egypt: the idols flee, the nation is dispirited (Isaiah 19:1). This is the theme of the discourse. In what follows the Prophet lets the Lord Himself set forth how He means to carry out in detail what is announced in Isaiah 19:1. The Egyptians shall war on one another (Isaiah 19:2); bereft of all prudent deliberation, they shall seek counsel from the idols and wizards (Isaiah 19:3). But it is of no use. Egypt is subjected to a harsh rule (Isaiah 19:4). The Nile dries up; its rushes and canes wither (Isaiah 19:5-6), and also the meadows and fields on its banks (Isaiah 19:7); its fisheries come to a miserable end (Isaiah 19:8); the preparation of linen and cotton stuff ceases (Isaiah 19:9). The highest as well as the lowest classes are ruined (Isaiah 19:10); the priests and the wise men that boast an ancient royal descent are at an end with their wisdom; they know not what the Lord has determined concerning Egypt (Isaiah 19:11-12); they are altogether perplexed in their thoughts, so that they only lead Egypt about in a maze (Isaiah 19:13-14). Neither for the highest nor the lowest does labor for the general benefit succeed any more (Isaiah 19:15).
2. The burden——midst of it.
Isaiah 19:1. Mizraim, is not the native name for the land of Egypt. The ancient Egyptians never used it. It is neither to be found in the hieroglyphic inscriptions, nor can it be explained from the Koptic language. The Egyptians called their land (the Nile valley) Cham; Koptic, Keme, Kemi, Chemi (i.e. “black”). Mizraim is the name given to the land by its eastern, Semitic neighbors. Ebers (l. c., p. 71 sqq.) proceeds from מָצוֹר, which means coarctatio, and then munimentum, “fortification” (Psalms 31:22; Psalms 60:11; Micah 7:12; Habakkuk 2:1, etc.). Egypt is so named, Isaiah 19:6; Isaiah 37:25; 2 Kings 19:24; Micah 7:12. Ebers maintains that the eastern neighbors so named Lower Egypt primarily, from the circumvallation that extended through the entire Isthmus, from Sues of Pelusium to the Red Sea, and thus completely shut off Lower Egypt from the East; so that it was an אֶרֶץ מָצוֹר, “a land shut off by fortification” for those eastern neighbors. But when the Hyksos had forced an entrance into the land, they learned for the first that it was far larger than they had supposed, viz., that it extended beyond the southern extremity of the fortification far up the Nile to the cataracts: in other words they learned that there was a Lower and an Upper Egypt. Hence the dual מִצרַים. Although the normal dual of מָצוֹר would sound differently, yet Ebers is right in saying that the inflection of proper names often takes its own peculiar form (l. c., p. 86). It is debatable whether the original distinction between מָצוֹר and מִצְרַיִם was afterwards strictly adhered to. In Isaiah 11:11, מצרים is evidently used in the narrower sense in which מצור was originally used. [“מִצְרַיִם is here the name of the ancestor (Genesis 10:6), put for his descendants.” J. A. A.—“Mizraim, or Misrim, the name given to Egypt in the Scriptures, is in the plural form, and is the Hebrew mode of expressing the ‘two regions of Egypt’ (so commonly met with in the hieroglyphics), or the ‘two Miser,’ a name still used by the Arabs, who call Egypt, as well as Cairo, Musk, or Misr.” Wilkinson’s Mann. and Cust. of Anc. Egypt, I. 2, quoted by Barnes in loc., who adds: “The origin of the name ‘Egypt’ is unknown. Egyptus is said by some to have been an ancient king of the country”].
Jehovah sets out for Egypt to hold an assize there. He rides swiftly thither on light clouds (Psalms 18:11; Psalms 68:34). Egypt’s idols flee before Him. They recognize in Him their lord and master, Luke 4:34. The people are dispirited; their courage sinks. One is involuntarily reminded of the visitation Egypt once before experienced on the part of Jehovah (Exodus 12:12). Idols and people of Egypt have once before felt the power of Jehovah: just for this reason they flee and tremble before Him (comp. Jeremiah 46:25; Ezekiel 30:13; 1 Samuel 5:3).
3. And I will set——Lord of hosts.
Isaiah 19:2-4. Duncker (Gesch. des Alterth., I. p. 602) says: “It cannot be determined whether this passage refers to the anarchy that followed the expulsion of the Ethiopians (Diodor., I. 66) about the year 695, or the contests that preceded Psammetichus’ ascending the throne (between 678–670).” But it appears that the anarchy after the withdrawal of the Ethiopians was not considerable. Herodotus (II. 147) especially praises the beautiful harmony of the Dodecarche. And if misunderstandings did arise, they might be taken into the Prophet’s comprehensive glance as essentially of the same sort with those that soon after preceded the sole dominion of Psammetichus. Such periods of internal discord, any way, occurred often in Egypt. Thus a papyrus discovered by Harris in 1855, and belonging to the time of Ramses III., leaf 75 sqq. informs us: “The land of Egypt fell into a decline: every one did as he pleased, long years there was no sovereign for them, that had the supreme power over the rest of things. The land of Egypt belonged to the princes in the districts. One killed another in jealousy.” Comp. Eisenlohr, The great Harris Papyrus; a lecture, Leipzig, 1872. Thus even the disturbances with which Egypt was visited in consequence of the irruption of the Ethiopian king Pianchi Meramen may be included, which Stade (De Is. vatt. aeth., p. 30 sqq.) holds to be intended by the cruel lord and fierce king Isaiah 19:4. For when Isaiah wrote, if the date given above is correct, the events under Pianchi Meramen belonged to the past and not to the future. By the aid of Ionian and Karian pirates (Herod. II. 152) Psammetichus subdued his opponents, after an eight years’ contest, in the decisive battle of Momemphis.
What the Prophet says (Isaiah 19:3) of the emptying out of the spirit of Egypt and swallowing up its counsel (comp. Isaiah 3:12) indicates the impotence of the rulers to help the situation with such means as shall be at their command. In their extremity they will apply to their idols, their interpreters, i.e. “the mutterers.” But in vain. Egypt is handed over to a harsh rule and a stern king. It cannot be denied that these terms apply very well to Psammetichus and the subsequent kings of his race, Necho and Hophra, for they called in foreign help to the support of their dominion, and gave thereby a blow to the old Egyptian existence from which it never recovered. We are told by Diodorus (I. 67) and Herodotus (II. 30) that, in consequence of the favor that Psammetichus showed to foreigners, more than 200,000 Egyptians of the military caste emigrated to Ethiopia during the reign of that king. Under Necho, of the laborers on the canal that was to connect the Nile with the Red Sea, 120,000 perished (Her. II. 158). Hophra or Apries was dethroned because an expedition against Cyrene, for which he had employed an army composed only of Egyptians, ended in severe defeat. For his conduct was construed to be an intentional devotion of the Egyptians to destruction (Herod. II. 161–169; IV. 159). These and other historical events may be regarded as belonging to the fulfilment of our prophecy. But they do not exhaust it. Nothing was less in Isaiah’s mind than to make those transactions the subject of special prediction. How would we in that case apply what follows, where he speaks of the Nile drying up and vegetation ceasing? Can this, too, be meant literally? By both declarations the Prophet means only to announce to Egypt a judgment by which, on both sides of its life, the historical and the natural, it shall be reduced to extremities. This judgment has not been realized by only one or a few definite events. It is realized by every thing that precedes the conversion of Egypt to Jehovah (Isaiah 19:21 sqq.) and contributes to it; and to that belongs, above all, its oppression by a foe from without, that is by Assyria. This moment, it is true, does not appear especially in chapt. 19, but to the presentation of this the complementary chapt. 20 is exclusively devoted.
4. And the waters——confounded.
Isaiah 19:5-9. The Nile is called a sea (comp. Isaiah 18:2; Isaiah 27:1; Nahum 3:8; Micah 7:12?), not merely because of its normal breadth within its own banks, but also because it really spreads out like a sea at the time of overflow, which to suit the context, must be regarded as the special allusion here. Hence Herodotus (II. 97) calls it “the sea of Egypt.” Comp. Plin. Hist. nat., 35, 11. “The water of the Nile resembles a sea.” Seneca Quaest. nat. IV. 2. “At first it abates, then by continued accession of waters it spreads out into the appearance of a broad and turbid sea,” Gesen. in loc. If יָם, “sea” designates the Nile in its overflow, then נהר means the stream within its normal bed, and the נהרות, “streams” and יארים “ditches,” mean the arms and canals of the Nile. With the drying up of the Nile and its branches perishes, of course, the vegetation that depends on them, and thus also the fisheries and the important manufacture of linen and cotton. On the extraordinary, productive fisheries of the Nile, comp. Wilkinson, l. c. I. and II. Linen garments were especially worn by the priests. In the temples they were allowed to wear only linen garments. All mummy bandages also were required to be of linen. On the manufacture of linen and cotton in Egypt, see Wilkinson II.
5. And they shall be broken——rush, may do.
Isaiah 19:10-15. In these verses the Prophet portrays the ruin of Egypt in another aspect of its national life, viz.: the division into castes, in which he especially sets forth the highest class as overtaken by the ruin. By שׁתות (see under Text. and Gram.), is not to be understood the lower classes (Hendewerk and Ewald) nor weaving (with a reference to שִׁית שַׁיִת, Roorda, Rosenmueller and others). They are the upper classes, the highest castes (comp. Isaiah 3:1). These shall be מדכאים i.e., “cast down, crumbled to ruins” (comp. Isaiah 53:5; Isaiah 53:10; Isaiah 3:15; Isaiah 57:15), what is thus predicated corresponding to the figurative meaning of the subject, in which I see an allusion to the ruins. For already in Isaiah’s time there were buildings in Egypt whose origin dated back more than a thousand years.
Is it not fitting that the Prophet compares the humiliation of the grandees of Egypt to the ruins of its ancient buildings, and the sorely visited lower classes to swamps of its Nile? (See Text, and Gram. on Isaiah 19:10).
In what follows he depicts further the coming to nought of the grandees, setting forth especially the bankruptcy of their wisdom, so celebrated of old (Acts 7:22; Herod. IV. 6, 77, 160). The princes of Zoan are only fools. (Zoan = Tanis, the royal residence of Lower Egypt, situated in the Delta of the Nile, comp. Ebers, l. c., I. p. 272 sqq.; identical with Ramses, according to Brugsch, address before the Oriental Congress, London, 1874). “The sages among the counsellors of Pharaoh,” are properly those of the counsellors who alone deserve the predicate “wise.” The expression recalls חַכְמוֹת שָׂרוֹתֶיהָ “her wise ladies” in the song of Deborah (Judges 5:29) which must also be translated: “the wisest among her princesses.” On the חֲכָמִים, the priestly counsellors of Pharaoh, see Ebers, l. c. I. p. 341 sqq.
As to the name Pharaoh, it reads in the hieroglyphic and hieratic writing “Peraa” or “Perâ,” which means literally “great house” (comp. sublime Porte). Comp. Ebers, p. 263 sqq. The word designates also simply the king’s palace (Ebers, ibid.).
The Prophet assumes that the Egyptian priests base their claim to wisdom on two circumstances: 1) on their antiquity, 2) on their high, royal origin. If the ancient kings were of a priestly race, which is correctly assumed, and if the wisdom of the priests was traditional, then the counsel which they gave the king originated from a source which must enjoy the highest consideration in his eyes. How lamentably, says Isaiah, must this counsel, proceeding from such high authority, come to confusion. Did they know what God had determined against Egypt, they could then take measures against it (Isaiah 19:12). As it is they are in a maze. They are themselves infatuated, and deceived; hence the “corner-stone of its tribes” (i.e., the tribe, viz.: the class on which the whole Egyptian body politic rests; the priestly class) leads the whole land astray (Isaiah 19:13). The Lord has, in fact, as it were, mingled a spirit of perverseness in the inward part of Egypt, so that by the very ones in whom, so to speak, the understanding of the land concentrated, the land is led astray in the most shameful manner. This shameful leading astray he expresses by a very revolting figure: he compares Egypt to a drunken man rolling about hither and thither in his own vomitings (Isaiah 19:14). Comp. Isaiah 28:8; Jeremiah 48:26 uses the same figure of Moab.——Thus Egypt becomes poor in deeds. All it does is nothing done. Neither head nor tail; neither palm-branch nor rush, i.e., neither the highest nor the lowest (comp. on Isaiah 9:13) will accomplish anything. With this the Prophet returns back to the thought from which (Isaiah 19:9) he started out.
Footnotes:
[1]cometh.
[2]move, or flee.
[3]melts.
[4]Heb. mingle.
[5]Egypt against Egypt.
[6]of stern command and rough tread.
[7]Heb. shall be emptied.
[8]Heb. swallow up.
[9]mutterers.
[10]the necromancers.
[11]Egypt.
[12]Or, shut up.
[13]harsh dominion.
[14]stern.
[15]the rivers shall stink.
[16]of Egypt.
[17]Reed and rush.
[18]meadows.
[19]on the bank of the.
[20]all the sown ground of.
[21]Heb. and shall not be.
[22]Or, white works.
[23]her pillars shall be ruins, all laborers for hire soul-swamps.
[24]Heb. foundations.
[25]Or, of living things.
[26]Only fools are the.
[27]The wise among the counsellors of Pharaoh, their counsel is.
[28]infatuated.
[29]And the corner-stone of its castes has led Egypt astray.
[30]Or, governors.
[31]Heb. corners.
[32]Heb. a spirit of perverseness.
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