Isaiah 19:6 - Printer Friendly

ESV: and its canals will become foul, and the branches of Egypt’s Nile will diminish and dry up, reeds and rushes will rot away.

NIV: The canals will stink; the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up. The reeds and rushes will wither,

NASB: The canals will emit a stench, The streams of Egypt will thin out and dry up; The reeds and rushes will rot away.

CSB: The channels will stink; they will dwindle, and Egypt's canals will be parched. Reed and rush will wilt.

NLT: The canals of the Nile will dry up, and the streams of Egypt will stink with rotting reeds and rushes.

KJV: And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither.

NKJV: The rivers will turn foul; The brooks of defense will be emptied and dried up; The reeds and rushes will wither.

Ancient Egypt was formidable and self-reliant. What gave the Egyptian people the false idea that they were provided for by their idols and false gods? In large part, it came from the great and powerful Nile River's nearly unchanging cycle of flooding and recession. The Egyptians turned desert into farmland using irrigation canals and branches to harness the life-giving power of the river (Isaiah 19:5).

The Lord wants Judah to understand that He brings that life-giving water to the desert. As such, He can take it away. God is describing in this oracle what will happen when He does. Without the water, those canals will turn foul and lifeless. The branches of the river will quickly vanish as the vegetation rots away in the heat of the desert. All the land taken back from the desert will be reclaimed by the scorching heat.

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).

Accessed 5/1/2024 9:27:11 PM