1 The aoracle concerning bEgypt. Behold, the Lord is criding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt; The didols of Egypt will tremble at His presence, And the eheart of the Egyptians will melt within them. 2 "So I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians; And they will aeach fight against his brother and each against his neighbor, City against city and kingdom against kingdom. 3 "Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be demoralized within them; And I will confound their strategy, So that athey will resort to idols and ghosts of the dead And to mediums and spiritists. 4 "Moreover, I will deliver the Egyptians into the hand of a acruel master, And a mighty king will rule over them," declares the Lord GOD of hosts. 5 aThe waters from the sea will dry up, And the river will be parched and dry. 6 The acanals will emit a stench, The bstreams of Egypt will thin out and dry up; cThe reeds and rushes will rot away. 7 The bulrushes by the aNile, by the edge of the Nile And all the sown fields by the Nile Will become dry, be driven away, and be no more. 8 And the afishermen will lament, And all those who cast a line into the Nile will mourn, And those who spread nets on the waters will pine away. 9 Moreover, the manufacturers of linen made from combed flax And the weavers of white acloth will be utterly dejected. 10 And the apillars of Egypt will be crushed; All the hired laborers will be grieved in soul. 11 The princes of aZoan are mere fools; The advice of Pharaoh's wisest advisers has become stupid. How can you men say to Pharaoh, "I am a son of the bwise, a son of ancient kings"? 12 Well then, where are your wise men? Please let them tell you, And let them understand what the Lord of hosts Has apurposed against Egypt. 13 The princes of Zoan have acted foolishly, The princes of aMemphis are deluded; Those who are the bcornerstone of her tribes Have led Egypt astray. 14 The Lord has mixed within her a spirit of adistortion; bThey have led Egypt astray in all that it does, As a cdrunken man staggers in his vomit. 15 There will be no work for Egypt aWhich its head or tail, its palm branch or bulrush, may do. 16 In that day the Egyptians will become like women, and they will tremble and be in adread because of the bwaving of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which He is going to wave over them. 17 The land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt; everyone to whom it is mentioned will be in dread of it, because of the apurpose of the Lord of hosts which He is purposing against them. 18 In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will be speaking the language of Canaan and aswearing allegiance to the Lord of hosts; one will be called the City of Destruction. 19 In that day there will be an aaltar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a bpillar to the Lord near its border. 20 It will become a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the Lord because of oppressors, and He will send them a aSavior and a bChampion, and He will deliver them. 21 Thus the Lord will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day. They will even worship with asacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to the Lord and perform it. 22 The Lord will strike Egypt, striking but ahealing; so they will breturn to the Lord, and He will respond to them and will heal them. 23 In that day there will be a ahighway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians will bworship with the Assyrians. 24 In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, 25 whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, "Blessed is aEgypt My people, and Assyria bthe work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance."