Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud

and comes to Egypt;

and the ^gidols of Egypt will tremble at his presence,

and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.

2  And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,

and they will fight, ^heach against another

and each against his neighbor,

city against city, kingdom against kingdom;

3  and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out,

and I will confound¹ their counsel;

and they will ⁱinquire of the idols and the sorcerers,

and the mediums and the necromancers;

4  and I will give over the Egyptians

^jinto the hand of a hard master,

and a fierce king will rule over them,

declares the Lord God of hosts.

5  And the waters of the sea will be dried up,

and the river will be dry and parched,

6  and its canals will become foul,

and the branches of Egypt’s Nile will diminish and dry up,

reeds and rushes will rot away.

7  There will be bare places by the Nile,

on the brink of the Nile,

and all that is sown by the Nile will be parched,

will be driven away, and will be no more.

8  The fishermen will mourn and lament,

all who cast a hook in the Nile;

and they will languish

who spread nets on the water.

9  The workers in combed flax will be in despair,

and the weavers of white cotton.

10  Those who are the pillars of the land will be crushed,

and all who work for pay will be grieved.

11  The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish;

the ^kwisest counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel.

How can you say to Pharaoh,

“I am a son of the wise,

a son of ancient kings”?

12  Where then are your wise men?

Let them tell you

that they might know what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt.

13  The princes of Zoan have become fools,

and the princes of Memphis are deluded;

those who are the cornerstones of her tribes

have made Egypt stagger.

14  The Lord has mingled within her a spirit of confusion,

and they will make Egypt stagger in all its deeds,

as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.

15  And there will be nothing for Egypt

that ^lhead or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.

3  “Prepare buckler and shield,

and advance for battle!

4  Harness the horses;

mount, O horsemen!

Take your stations with your helmets,

polish your spears,

put on your armor!

5  Why have I seen it?

They are dismayed

and have turned backward.

Their warriors are beaten down

and have fled in haste;

they look not back—

ⁿterror on every side!

declares the Lord.

6  “The swift cannot flee away,

nor the warrior escape;

in the north by the river Euphrates

they have stumbled and fallen.

7  “Who is this, rising like the Nile,

like rivers whose waters surge?

8  Egypt rises like the Nile,

like rivers whose waters surge.

He said, ‘I will rise, I will cover the earth,

I will destroy cities and their inhabitants.’

9  Advance, O horses,

and rage, O chariots!

Let the warriors go out:

men of Cush and Put who handle the shield,

men of Lud, skilled in handling the bow.

10  That day is the ^oday of the Lord God of hosts,

a ^pday of vengeance,

to avenge himself on his foes.

The sword shall devour and be sated

and drink its fill of their blood.

For the Lord God of hosts holds a ^qsacrifice

in the north country by the river Euphrates.

11  Go up to Gilead, and take balm,

O virgin daughter of Egypt!

In vain you have used many medicines;

there is ^rno healing for you.

12  The nations have heard of your shame,

and the earth is full of your cry;

for warrior has stumbled against warrior;

they have both fallen together.”

14  “Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in ^sMigdol;

proclaim in Memphis and Tahpanhes;

say, ‘Stand ready and be prepared,

for the sword shall devour around you.’

15  Why are your mighty ones face down?

They do not stand¹

because the Lord thrust them down.

16  He made many stumble, and they fell,

and they said one to another,

‘Arise, and let us go back to our own people

and to the land of our birth,

^tbecause of the sword of the oppressor.’

17  Call the name of Pharaoh, king of Egypt,

‘Noisy one who lets the hour go by.’

18  “As I live, declares the ^uKing,

whose name is the Lord of hosts,

like Tabor among the mountains

and like Carmel by the sea, shall one come.

19  Prepare yourselves baggage for exile,

O inhabitants of Egypt!

For Memphis shall become a waste,

a ruin, without inhabitant.

20  “A beautiful heifer is Egypt,

but a biting fly from the north has come upon her.

21  Even her hired soldiers in her midst

are like fattened calves;

yes, they have turned and fled together;

they did not stand,

for the day of their calamity has come upon them,

the time of their punishment.

22  “She makes a sound like a serpent gliding away;

for her enemies march in force

and come against her with axes

like those who fell trees.

23  They shall cut down her forest,

declares the Lord,

though it is impenetrable,

because they are ^vmore numerous than locusts;

they are without number.

24  The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame;

she shall be delivered into the hand of a people from the north.”

27  ^z“But ^afear not, O Jacob my servant,

nor be dismayed, O Israel,

for behold, I will save you from far away,

and your offspring from the land of their captivity.

Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,

and ^bnone shall make him afraid.

28  Fear not, O Jacob my servant,

declares the Lord,

for I am with you.

I will make a full end of all the nations

to which I have driven you,

but ^cof you I will not make a full end.

I will ^ddiscipline you in just measure,

and I will by no means leave you unpunished.”

19  “Egypt shall become a desolation

and Edom a desolate wilderness,

^kfor the violence done to the people of Judah,

because they have shed innocent blood in their land.