Behold, the Lord ^cis riding on a swift cloud

and comes to Egypt;

and ^dthe idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence,

and the heart of the Egyptians will ^emelt within them.

2  And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,

^fand they will fight, each 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 ^gcounsel;

and they will inquire of the idols and the sorcerers,

and ^hthe mediums and the necromancers;

4  and I will give over the Egyptians

into the hand of ⁱa 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 ^jfishermen 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 ^kcombed flax will be in despair,

and the weavers of white cotton.

10  Those who are the ^lpillars of the land will be crushed,

and all who ^mwork for pay will be grieved.

11  The princes of ⁿZoan are utterly foolish;

the wisest 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 ^owise men?

Let them tell you

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

13  The princes of ⁿZoan have become fools,

and the princes of ^pMemphis are deluded;

those who are the ^qcornerstones of her tribes

have made Egypt stagger.

14  The Lord has mingled within her ^ra spirit of confusion,

and they will make Egypt stagger in all its deeds,

^sas a drunken man staggers in his vomit.

15  And there will be nothing for Egypt

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

^vAs whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on,

it comes from the wilderness,

from a terrible land.

2  A stern vision is told to me;

^wthe traitor betrays,

and the destroyer destroys.

Go up, O ^xElam;

lay siege, O ^yMedia;

all the ^zsighing she has caused

I bring to an end.

3  Therefore my loins are filled with anguish;

^apangs have seized me,

like the pangs of a woman in labor;

I am bowed down so that I cannot hear;

I am dismayed so that I cannot see.

4  My heart staggers; horror has appalled me;

^bthe twilight I longed for

has been turned for me into trembling.

5  ^cThey prepare the table,

they spread the rugs,¹

they eat, they drink.

Arise, O princes;

^doil the shield!

6  For thus the Lord said to me:

“Go, set a watchman;

let him announce what he sees.

7  When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs,

riders on donkeys, riders on camels,

let him listen diligently,

very diligently.”

8  Then he who saw cried out:²

^e“Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord,

continually by day,

and at my post I am stationed

whole nights.

9  And behold, here come riders,

horsemen in pairs!”

^fAnd he answered,

^g“Fallen, fallen is Babylon;

^hand all the carved images of her gods

he has shattered to the ground.”

10  O ⁱmy threshed and winnowed one,

what I have heard from the Lord of hosts,

the God of Israel, I announce to you.

One is calling to me from ^lSeir,

“Watchman, what time of the night?

Watchman, what time of the night?”

12  The watchman says:

“Morning comes, and also ^mthe night.

If you will inquire, ⁿinquire;

come back again.”

In the thickets in ^pArabia you will lodge,

O ^qcaravans of ^pDedanites.

14  To the thirsty bring water;

meet the fugitive with bread,

O inhabitants of the land of ^rTema.

15  For they have fled from the swords,

from the drawn sword,

from the bent bow,

and from the press of battle.

What do you mean that you have gone up,

all of you, to the housetops,

2  you who are full of shoutings,

tumultuous city, ^xexultant town?

Your slain are ^ynot slain with the sword

or dead in battle.

3  ^zAll your leaders have fled together;

without the bow they were captured.

All of you who were found were captured,

though they had fled far away.

4  Therefore I said:

“Look away from me;

^alet me weep bitter tears;

do not labor to comfort me

concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”

5  ^bFor the Lord God of hosts has ^ca day

of tumult and ^dtrampling and ^econfusion

in ^wthe valley of vision,

a battering down of walls

and a shouting to the mountains.

6  And ^fElam bore the quiver

with chariots and horsemen,

and ^gKir uncovered the shield.

7  Your choicest valleys were full of chariots,

and the horsemen took their stand at the gates.

8  He has taken away ^hthe covering of Judah.

12  In that day ^othe Lord God of hosts

called for weeping and mourning,

for ^pbaldness and ^qwearing sackcloth;

13  and behold, joy and gladness,

killing oxen and slaughtering sheep,

eating flesh and drinking wine.

^r“Let us eat and drink,

for tomorrow we die.”

14  The Lord of hosts ^shas revealed himself in my ears:

“Surely ^tthis iniquity will not be atoned for you ^uuntil you die,”

says the Lord God of hosts.

Wail, O ^kships of Tarshish,

for Tyre is laid waste, ^lwithout house or harbor!

From ^mthe land of Cyprus¹

it is revealed to them.

2  Be still, O inhabitants of the coast;

the merchants of ⁿSidon, who cross the sea, have filled you.

3  And on many waters

your revenue was the grain of Shihor,

the harvest of the Nile;

you were ^othe merchant of the nations.

4  Be ashamed, O ⁿSidon, for the sea has spoken,

the stronghold of the sea, saying:

“I have neither labored nor given birth,

I have neither reared young men

nor brought up young women.”

5  When the report comes to Egypt,

they will be in anguish² over the report about Tyre.

6  ^pCross over to Tarshish;

wail, O inhabitants of the coast!

7  Is this your exultant city

^qwhose origin is from days of old,

whose feet carried her

to settle far away?

8  Who has purposed this

against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,

whose merchants were princes,

whose traders were the honored of the earth?

9  The Lord of hosts has purposed it,

^rto defile the pompous pride of all glory,³

to dishonor all the honored of the earth.

10  Cross over your land like the Nile,

O daughter of Tarshish;

there is no restraint anymore.

11  ^sHe has stretched out his hand over the sea;

he has shaken the kingdoms;

the Lord has given command concerning Canaan

to destroy its strongholds.

12  And he said:

“You will no more exult,

O oppressed virgin daughter of ^tSidon;

arise, ^ucross over to ^vCyprus,

even there you will have no rest.”

14  ^yWail, O ships of Tarshish,

for your stronghold is laid waste.

16  “Take a harp;

go about the city,

O forgotten prostitute!

Make sweet melody;

sing many songs,

that you may be remembered.”