Isaiah 19:5-10

⁵ The waters of the river will dry up, and the riverbed will be parched and dry. ⁶ The canals will stink; the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up. The reeds and rushes will wither, ⁷ also the plants along the Nile, at the mouth of the river. Every sown field along the Nile will become parched, will blow away and be no more. ⁸ The fishermen will groan and lament, all who cast hooks into the Nile; those who throw nets on the water will pine away. ⁹ Those who work with combed flax will despair, the weavers of fine linen will lose hope. ¹⁰ The workers in cloth will be dejected, and all the wage earners will be sick at heart.

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Other Translations of Isaiah 19:5-10

King James Version

⁵ And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up. ⁶ 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. ⁷ The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more. ⁸ The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish. ⁹ Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave networks, networks: or, white works shall be confounded. ¹⁰ And they shall be broken in the purposes purposes: Heb. foundations thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish.

English Standard Version

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.

The Message

⁵ The River Nile will dry up, the riverbed baked dry in the sun. ⁶ The canals will become stagnant and stink, every stream touching the Nile dry up. River vegetation will rot away ⁷ the banks of the Nile-baked clay, The riverbed hard and smooth, river grasses dried up and gone with the wind. ⁸ Fishermen will complain that the fishing's been ruined. ⁹ Textile workers will be out of work, all weavers and workers in linen and cotton and wool ¹⁰ Dispirited, depressed in their forced idleness - everyone who works for a living, jobless.

New King James Version

⁵ The waters will fail from the sea, And the river will be wasted and dried up. ⁶ The rivers will turn foul; The brooks of defense will be emptied and dried up; The reeds and rushes will wither. ⁷ The papyrus reeds by the River, by the mouth of the River, And everything sown by the River, Will wither, be driven away, and be no more. ⁸ The fishermen also will mourn; All those will lament who cast hooks into the River, And they will languish who spread nets on the waters. ⁹ Moreover those who work in fine flax And those who weave fine fabric will be ashamed; ¹⁰ And its foundations will be broken. All who make wages will be troubled of soul.

New Living Translation

⁵ The waters of the Nile will fail to rise and flood the fields. The riverbed will be parched and dry. ⁶ The canals of the Nile will dry up, and the streams of Egypt will stink with rotting reeds and rushes. ⁷ All the greenery along the riverbank and all the crops along the river will dry up and blow away. ⁸ The fishermen will lament for lack of work. Those who cast hooks into the Nile will groan, and those who use nets will lose heart. ⁹ There will be no flax for the harvesters, no thread for the weavers. ¹⁰ They will be in despair, and all the workers will be sick at heart.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Isaiah 19:5-10

Commentary on Isaiah 19:1-17

(Read Isaiah 19:1-17)

God shall come into Egypt with his judgments. He will raise up the causes of their destruction from among themselves. When ungodly men escape danger, they are apt to think themselves secure; but evil pursues sinners, and will speedily overtake them, except they repent. The Egyptians will be given over into the hand of one who shall rule them with rigour, as was shortly after fulfilled. The Egyptians were renowned for wisdom and science; yet the Lord would give them up to their own perverse schemes, and to quarrel, till their land would be brought by their contests to become an object of contempt and pity. He renders sinners afraid of those whom they have despised and oppressed; and the Lord of hosts will make the workers of iniquity a terror to themselves, and to each other; and every object around a terror to them.