What does Isaiah 19:10 mean?
The Lord is predicting the devastation that will come on the usually prosperous nation of Egypt (Isaiah 19:5–6). He will dry up the Nile River. The farming industry would halt without the annual flooding of the Egyptian lowlands. The expansive fishing industry would cease to exist. Egypt's world-famous linen industry would stop functioning without the water from the Nile to grow flax. The Egyptian workers would be left without jobs or food to eat (Isaiah 19:7–9).Scholars translate the Hebrew word sātōte' in the first phrase of this verse differently. Some understand it to mean "pillars," leading to the idea that the "great ones" of the land—leaders and rulers—will be dejected. Other scholars understand the word to mean "weavers" or "workers," indicating that the cloth-workers will be crushed. This may fit better with the idea that the "wage earners" will be devastated.
In either case, the picture is one that is familiar to people throughout time. When all the workers in a given industry suddenly lose their jobs, they fall into harsh poverty and the entire economy is dragged down with them.
