Isaiah 19:5 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And the waters of the sea will be dried up, and the river will be dry and parched,

NIV: The waters of the river will dry up, and the riverbed will be parched and dry.

NASB: The waters from the sea will dry up, And the river will be parched and dry.

CSB: The water of the sea will dry up, and the river will be parched and dry.

NLT: The waters of the Nile will fail to rise and flood the fields. The riverbed will be parched and dry.

KJV: And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.

NKJV: The waters will fail from the sea, And the river will be wasted and dried up.

The point of Isaiah's oracles was to show the people of Judah, God's people, why they should not put their hope for safety and salvation in other nations. The Lord could bring any nation to its knees at any moment. What He wanted was for His people to trust in Him alone for salvation. He alone could give them the security they so desperately wanted.

The kings of Judah and Israel were tempted to make alliances with the kings of other nations, including Egypt. They hoped joining with these nations would give them a chance against the Assyrian—and later, Babylonian—war machines. Isaiah has already shown that Egypt will be conquered (Isaiah 19:1–4), making an alliance with them pointless. Now he shows that the Lord will also turn nature itself against the Egyptians. God will dry up the critical water resources of Egypt.

The Hebrew word translated "sea" here is yām, which can more generally mean a seashore, or the direction of the sea, or a body of water. Since the Nile river is unusually wide and slow-flowing, and its annual flooding created large wet areas, it might well have been referred to as a "sea" in that sense. That God will dry both the "sea" and the "river" suggests that the fertile Nile delta would become desolate.

In our modern era, due to a dam, the Nile River no longer floods every year. During its natural flood stage, the Nile would become a temporary "sea" in lower Egypt. This annual flooding, followed by the receding of the waters, made for some of the most fertile farmland in the world. The great famine during the days of Joseph (Genesis 41:1–4; 28–31) was likely caused by a prolonged drought that stopped this cycle. In short, the Nile River made life in Egypt possible and even prosperous. Without it, Egypt would become a desert.

Isaiah 19:1–15 is an oracle against the nation of Egypt. Isaiah describes the Lord, not Egypt's imaginary god Baal, as arriving on a swift cloud to judge the nation. The hearts of the people will melt, and their spirits will be emptied out. They will turn on each other. Neither their gods nor their wise men will be able to save them. Even the Nile River will dry up. Yet, in the kingdom of the Messiah, Egypt will turn to the Lord and be blessed by Him.

Isaiah's oracle describes the Lord's coming judgment on Egypt. The idols will fear when God arrives, and the people will turn on each other. A fierce king will conquer them. The Nile River will dry up, leaving many destitute. The advisors serving Egypt's leaders will be revealed as confused fools. Far in the future, Egypt will recognize Israel's God and repent, turning to worship the Lord. Assyria will join in that worship, blessing the earth along with Egypt and Israel.

Isaiah 19 introduces the next oracle against the nations of the earth. The Lord has been showing His people not to put their trust and hope in the foreign nations or their gods. They are to trust in Him alone to save them. The Lord's arrival in Egypt reveals the worthlessness of idols and spiritists. The terrified people will turn on each other. They will become destitute when the Nile dries up and the wise are shown to be foolish. In the far future, Egypt will worship the Lord and be blessed by Him.

Isaiah is among the most important prophetic books in the entire Bible. The first segment details God's impending judgment against ancient peoples for sin and idolatry (Isaiah 1—35). The second part of Isaiah briefly explains a failed assault on Jerusalem during the rule of Hezekiah (Isaiah 36—39). The final chapters predict Israel's rescue from Babylonian captivity (Isaiah 40—48), the promised Messiah (Isaiah 49—57), and the final glory of Jerusalem and God's people (Isaiah 58—66).