Isaiah 19:8

Amplified Bible

The fishermen will lament (cry out in grief), And all those who cast a hook into the Nile will mourn, And those who spread nets upon the waters will languish.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Then the fishermen will mourn.All those who cast hooks into the Nile will lament,and those who spread nets on the water will give up.

Hebrew Names Version
The fishermen shall lament, and all those who cast angle into the Nile shall mourn, and those who spread nets on the waters shall languish.

King James Version
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.

English Standard Version
The fishermen will mourn and lament, all who cast a hook in the Nile; and they will languish who spread nets on the water.

New American Standard Bible
And the fishermen will grieve, And all those who cast a line into the Nile will mourn, And those who spread nets on the waters will dwindle away.

New Century Version
The fishermen, all those who catch fish from the Nile, will groan and cry; those who fish in the Nile will be sad.

World English Bible
The fishermen shall lament, and all those who cast angle into the Nile shall mourn, and those who spread nets on the waters shall languish.

Geneva Bible (1587)
The fishers also shall mourne, and all they that cast angle into the riuer, shall lament, and they that spread their nette vpon the waters, shall be weakened.

Legacy Standard Bible
And the fishermen will lament,And all those who cast a line into the Nile will mourn,And those who spread nets on the waters will languish.

Berean Standard Bible
Then the fishermen will mourn, all who cast hooks into the Nile will lament, and those who spread nets on the water will grieve.

Contemporary English Version
Those who fish in the Nile will be discouraged and mourn.

Complete Jewish Bible
Fishermen too will lament, all who cast hooks in the Nile will mourn, those who spread nets on the water lose heart.

Darby Translation
And the fishers shall mourn, and all they that cast fish-hook into the Nile shall lament, and they that spread net upon the waters shall languish.

Easy-to-Read Version
The fishermen, all those who catch fish from the Nile River, will become sad and they will cry. They depend on the Nile River for their food, but it will be dry.

George Lamsa Translation
The fishermen also shall lament, and all who cast hooks into the river shall mourn, and those who spread nets upon the water shall languish.

Good News Translation
Everyone who earns a living by fishing in the Nile will groan and cry; their hooks and their nets will be useless.

Lexham English Bible
And the fishers will mourn, and all of those who cast fishhooks in the Nile will lament, and those who spread out fishing nets on the surface of the water will languish.

Literal Translation
The fishermen shall mourn; and all who cast a hook into the Nile shall wail; and those who spread nets on the surface of the waters shall droop.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The fyshers shall mourne, all soch as cast angles in the water, shal complayne, & they that sprede their nettes in the water, shalbe faynt harted.

American Standard Version
And the fishers shall lament, and all they that cast angle into the Nile shall mourn, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.

Bible in Basic English
The fishermen will be sad, and all those who put fishing-lines into the Nile will be full of grief, and those whose nets are stretched out on the waters will have sorrow in their hearts.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
The fishers also shall lament, and all they that cast angle into the Nile shall mourn, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.

King James Version (1611)
The fishers also shall mourne, and all they that cast angle into the brookes shall lament, and they that spread nets vpon the waters shall languish.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
The fisshers also shall mourne, and all they that cast angle into the water shall make lamentation: and they that lay foorth their net beside the waters shalbe rooted out.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the fishermen shall groan, and all that cast a hook into the river shall groan; they also that cast nets, and the anglers shall mourn.

English Revised Version
The fishers also shall lament, and all they that cast angle into the Nile shall mourn, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And fischeris schulen morne, and alle that casten hook in to the flood, schulen weile; and thei that spreden abrood a net on the face of watris, schulen fade.

Update Bible Version
And the fishers shall lament, and all those that cast angle into the Nile shall mourn, and those that spread nets on the waters shall languish.

Webster's Bible Translation
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.

New English Translation
The fishermen will mourn and lament, all those who cast a fishhook into the river, and those who spread out a net on the water's surface will grieve.

New King James Version
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.

New Living Translation
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.

New Life Bible
The fishermen will cry in sorrow. All those who fish for a living in the Nile River will be filled with sorrow. And those who put out nets on its waters will become weak.

New Revised Standard
Those who fish will mourn; all who cast hooks in the Nile will lament, and those who spread nets on the water will languish.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then shall the fishers, lament, And all shall mourn who cast in the Nile a hook, - And they who spread nets on the face of the waters shall languish;

Douay-Rheims Bible
The fishers also shall mourn, and all that cast a hook into the river shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish away.

Revised Standard Version
The fishermen will mourn and lament, all who cast hook in the Nile; and they will languish who spread nets upon the water.

Young's Literal Translation
And lamented have the fishers, And mourned have all casting angle into a brook, And those spreading nets on the face of the waters have languished.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
And the fishermen will lament, And all those who cast a line into the Nile will mourn, And those who spread nets on the waters will pine away.

Contextual Overview

¹The [mournful, inspired] oracle (a burden to be carried) concerning Egypt: Listen carefully, the LORD is riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt; The idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence, And the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them. ²"So I will provoke Egyptians against Egyptians; And they will fight, each one against his brother and each one against his neighbor, City against city, kingdom against kingdom. ³"Then the spirit of the Egyptians will become exhausted within them and emptied out; And I will confuse their strategy, So that they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead, And mediums and soothsayers. ⁴"And I will hand over the Egyptians to a hard and cruel master, And a mighty king will rule over them," declares the Lord GOD of hosts. ⁵The waters from the sea will dry up, And the river will be parched and dry. ⁶The canals will become foul-smelling, The streams of Egypt will thin out and dry up, The reeds and the rushes will rot away. ⁷The meadows by the Nile, by the edge of the Nile, And all the sown fields of the Nile Will become dry, be blown away, and be no more. ⁸The fishermen will lament (cry out in grief), And all those who cast a hook into the Nile will mourn, And those who spread nets upon the waters will languish.⁹Moreover, those who make linen from combed flax And those who weave white cloth will be ashamed. ¹⁰[Those who are] the pillars and foundations of Egypt will be crushed; And all those who work for wages will be grieved in soul.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Exodus 7:21, Numbers 11:5, Ezekiel 47:10, Habakkuk 1:15

Cross-References

Genesis 18:5
And I will bring a piece of bread to refresh and sustain you; after that you may go on, since you have come to your servant." And they replied, "Do as you have said."

Genesis 19:31
The firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is aging, and there is not a man on earth [available] to be intimate with us in the customary way [so that we may have children].

Genesis 19:38
The younger also gave birth to a son and named him Ben-ammi (son of my people); he is the father of the Ammonites to this day.

Genesis 42:37
Then Reuben spoke to his father, "You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring Benjamin back to you; put him in my care, and I will return him to you."

Exodus 32:22
Aaron said, "Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, that they are prone to evil.

Judges 9:15
"So the bramble said to the trees, 'If in truth you are anointing me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.'

Judges 19:24
"Here is my virgin daughter and this man's concubine. I will bring them out now; abuse and humiliate them and do to them whatever you want, but do not commit this act of sacrilege against this man."

Isaiah 58:7
"Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry And bring the homeless poor into the house; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not to hide yourself from [the needs of] your own flesh and blood?

Mark 9:6
For he did not [really] know what to say because they were terrified [and stunned by the miraculous sight].

Romans 3:8
And why not say, (as some slanderously report and claim that we teach) "Let us do evil so that good may come of it"? Their condemnation [by God] is just.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The fishers also shall mourn,.... Because there will be no fish to catch, the waters of the river being dried up, and so will have none to sell, and nothing to support themselves and families with; and this must also affect the people in general, fish being the common food they lived upon, see Numbers 11:5, not only because of the great plenty there usually was, but because they killed and ate but very few living creatures, through a superstitious regard unto them; though Herodotus says h the Egyptian priests might not taste of fishes, yet the common people might; for, according to that historian i, when the river Nile flowed out of the lake of Moeris, a talent of silver every day was brought into the king's treasury, arising from the profit of fish; and when it flowed in, twenty pounds; nay, he expressly says k, that some of them live upon fish only, gutted, and dried with the sun:

and all they that cast angle, or hook,

into the brooks shall lament; which describes one sort of fishermen, and way of catching fishes, with the angle and hook, as the following clause describes another sort:

and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish; be dispirited and enfeebled for want of trade and subsistence, and with grief and horror.

h Euterpe, sive l. 2. c. 37. i Ibid. c. 149. k Ibid. c. 92.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The fishers also - In this verse, and the two following, the prophet describes the calamities that would come upon various classes of the inhabitants, as the consequence of the failing of the waters of the Nile. The first class which he mentions are the fishermen. Egypt is mentioned Numbers 11:5, as producing great quantities of fish. ‘We remember the fish which we did eat in Eypt freely.’ ‘The Nile,’ says Diodorus (i.), ‘abounds with incredible numbers of all sorts of fish.’ The same was true of the artificial canals, and lakes, and reservoirs of water Isaiah 19:10. Herodotus (ii. 93) says that large quantities of fish were produced in the Nile: ‘At the season of spawning,’ says he, ‘they move in vast multitudes toward the sea. As soon as that season is over they leave the sea, return up the river, and endeavor to regain their accustomed haunts.’ As a specimen of his “credulity,” however, and also of the attention which he bestowed on natural history, the reader may consult the passage here referred to in regard to the mode of their propagation.

He also says that it is observed of the fish that are taken in their passage to the sea, that they have ‘the left part of their heads depressed.’ Of those that are taken on their return, the “right” side of the head is found to be depressed. This he accounts for by observing, that ‘the cause of this is obvious: as they pass to the sea they rub themselves on the banks on the left side; as they return they keep closely to the same bank, and, in both instances, press against it, that they may not be obliged to deviate from their course by the current of the stream.’ Speaking of the Lake Moeris, Herodotus says, that ‘for six months the lake empties itself into the Nile, and the remaining six, the Nile supplies the lake. During the six months in which the waters ebb, the fishing which is here carried on furnishes the royal treasury with a talent of silver (about 180) every day’ (ii. 149). ‘The silver which the fishery of this lake produced, was appropriated to find the queen with clothes and perfumes.’ (Diod. i. 52.) The Lake Moeris is now farmed for 30 purses (about 193) annually.

Michaud says that the Lake Menzaleh now yields an annual revenue of 800 purses,’ about 5364. ‘The great abundance of fish produced in the Nile was an invaluable provision of nature, in a country which had neither extended pasture grounds, nor large herds of cattle, and where grain was the principal production. When the Nile inundated the country, and filled the lakes and canals with its overflowing waters, these precious gifts were extended to the most remote villages in the interior of the valley, and the plentiful supply of fish which they obtained was an additional benefit conferred upon them at this season of the year.’ (Wilkinson’s “Ancient Egyptians,” vol. iii. pp. 62, 63.) Hence, the greatness of the calamity here referred to by the prophet when the lakes and canals should be dried up. The whole country would feel it.

And all they that cast angle - Two kinds of fishermen are mentioned - those who used a hook, and those who used the net. The former would fish mainly in the “brooks” or canals that were cut from the Nile to water their lands. For the various methods of fishing, illustrated by drawings, the reader may consult Wilklnson’s “Ancient Egyptians,” vol. ii. p. 21; vol. iii. p. 53ff.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 19:8. The fishers also - "And the fishers"] There was great plenty of fish in Egypt; see Numbers 11:5. "The Nile," says Diodorus, lib. i., "abounds with incredible numbers of all sorts of fish." And much more the lakes. So Egmont, Pococke, &c.