Lectionary Calendar
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2026
the Third Week after Easter
Attention!
Tired of seeing ads while studying? Now you can enjoy an "Ads Free" version of the site for as little as 10¢ a day and support a great cause!
Click here to learn more!

Read the Bible

Geneva Bible

Isaiah 19:5

Then the waters of the sea shall faile, and the riuers shall be dryed vp, and wasted.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Egypt;   Nile;   War;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Egypt;   Nile, the River;   Rivers;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Nile;   Tirhakah;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Nile;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Sea, the;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Job;   Nile;   No;   Red Sea;   Sea;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Isaiah, Book of;   Minish;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Egypt;   Red sea;   Sea;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Kingdom of Judah;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Sea;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Egypt;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The water of the sea will dry up,and the river will be parched and dry.
Hebrew Names Version
The waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and become dry.
King James Version
And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.
English Standard Version
And the waters of the sea will be dried up, and the river will be dry and parched,
New American Standard Bible
The waters from the sea will dry up, And the river will be parched and dry.
New Century Version
The sea will become dry, and the water will disappear from the Nile River.
Amplified Bible
The waters from the sea will dry up, And the river will be parched and dry.
World English Bible
The waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and become dry.
Legacy Standard Bible
The waters from the sea will dry up,And the river will be parched and dry.
Berean Standard Bible
The waters of the Nile will dry up, and the riverbed will be parched and empty.
Contemporary English Version
The Nile River will dry up and become parched land.
Complete Jewish Bible
The water will ebb from the sea, the river will be drained dry.
Darby Translation
And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up;
Easy-to-Read Version
The water in the Nile River will dry up and disappear.
George Lamsa Translation
And they shall cut off the water from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.
Good News Translation
The water will be low in the Nile, and the river will gradually dry up.
Lexham English Bible
And the waters will be dried up from the sea, and the river will be parched and dry.
Literal Translation
And the waters shall dry up from the sea, and the river shall fail and dry up.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The water of the see shalbe drawe out, Nilus shal synke awaye, & be dronke vp.
American Standard Version
And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and become dry.
Bible in Basic English
And the waters of the sea will be cut off, and the river will become dry and waste:
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be drained dry,
King James Version (1611)
And the waters shall faile from the sea, and the riuer shalbe wasted, and dried vp.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
The waters of the sea shall fayle, and the riuer shall decrease and be dryed vp.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the Egyptians shall drink the water that is by the sea, but the river shall fail, and be dried up.
English Revised Version
And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and become dry.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And watir of the see schal wexe drie, and the flood schal be desolat, and schal be dried.
Update Bible Version
And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and become dry.
Webster's Bible Translation
And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the rivers shall be wasted and dried up.
New English Translation
The water of the sea will be dried up, and the river will dry up and be empty.
New King James Version
The waters will fail from the sea, And the river will be wasted and dried up.
New Living Translation
The waters of the Nile will fail to rise and flood the fields. The riverbed will be parched and dry.
New Life Bible
The waters of the sea will dry up. The river will become dry.
New Revised Standard
The waters of the Nile will be dried up, and the river will be parched and dry;
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And the waters shall be dried up from the great stream, - And the River, shall waste and be dry;
Douay-Rheims Bible
And the water of the sea shall be dried up, and the river shall be wasted and dry.
Revised Standard Version
And the waters of the Nile will be dried up, and the river will be parched and dry;
Young's Literal Translation
And failed have waters from the sea, And a river is wasted and dried up.
THE MESSAGE
The River Nile will dry up, the riverbed baked dry in the sun. The canals will become stagnant and stink, every stream touching the Nile dry up. River vegetation will rot away the banks of the Nile-baked clay, The riverbed hard and smooth, river grasses dried up and gone with the wind. Fishermen will complain that the fishing's been ruined. Textile workers will be out of work, all weavers and workers in linen and cotton and wool Dispirited, depressed in their forced idleness— everyone who works for a living, jobless.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
The waters from the sea will dry up, And the river will be parched and dry.

Contextual Overview

1 The burden of Egypt. Beholde, the Lord rideth vpon a swift cloude, and shall come into Egypt, and the idoles of Egypt shall be moued at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the middes of her. 2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: so euery one shall fight against his brother, and euery one against his neighbour, citie against citie, and kingdome against kingdome. 3 And the spirite of Egypt shall faile in the middes of her, and I will destroy their counsell, and they shall seeke at the idoles, and at the sorcerers, and at them that haue spirits of diuination, and at the southsayers. 4 And I will deliuer the Egyptians into the hand of the cruell Lordes, & a mightie King shall rule ouer them, sayth the Lord God of hostes. 5 Then the waters of the sea shall faile, and the riuers shall be dryed vp, and wasted. 6 And the riuers shall goe farre away: the riuers of defence shalbe emptied and dryed vp: the reedes and flagges shall be cut downe. 7 The grasse in the riuer, and at the head of the riuers, and all that groweth by the riuer, shall wither, and be driuen away, and be no more. 8 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. 9 Moreouer, they that worke in flaxe of diuers sortes, shall be confounded, and they that weaue nettes. 10 For their nettes shalbe broken, and all they, that make pondes, shalbe heauie in heart.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Jeremiah 51:36, Ezekiel 30:12, Zechariah 10:11, Zechariah 14:18

Reciprocal: Genesis 41:1 - the river Job 8:11 - the rush Psalms 107:33 - turneth Isaiah 11:15 - shall smite Isaiah 18:2 - have spoiled Isaiah 32:20 - Blessed Nahum 1:4 - and drieth Nahum 3:8 - that had

Cross-References

Genesis 19:23
The sunne did rise vpon the earth, when Lot entred into Zoar.
Genesis 19:24
Then the Lord rained vpon Sodom and vpon Gomorah brimstone, & fire from the Lord out of heauen,
Genesis 19:26
Now his wife behind him looked backe, and she became a pillar of salt.
Genesis 19:27
And Abraham rising vp earely in ye morning went to the place, where he had stand before the Lord,
Leviticus 18:22
Thou shalt not lie with ye male as one lieth with a woman: for it is abomination.
Leviticus 20:13
The ma also that lyeth with the male, as one lyeth with a woman, they haue both committed abomination: they shall dye the death, their blood shalbe vpon them.
Judges 19:22
And as they were making their hearts merie, beholde, the men of the citie, wicked men beset the house round about, and smote at the doore, and spake to this olde man the master of the house saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house that we may knowe him.
Isaiah 1:9
Except the Lorde of hostes had reserued vnto vs, euen a small remnant: we should haue bene as Sodom, and should haue bene like vnto Gomorah.
Isaiah 3:9
The triall of their countenance testifieth against them, yea, they declare their sinnes as Sodom, they hide them not. Wo be vnto their soules: for they haue rewarded euil vnto themselues.
Jeremiah 3:3
Therefore the showres haue beene restrained, and the latter raine came not, and thou haddest a whores forehead: thou wouldest not bee ashamed.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the waters shall fail from the sea,.... Which Kimchi understands figuratively of the destruction of the Egyptians by the king of Assyria, compared to the drying up of the waters of the Nile; and others think that the failure of their trade by sea is meant, which brought great revenues into the kingdom: but, by what follows, it seems best to take the words in a literal sense, of the waters of the river Nile, which being dried up, as in the next clause, could not empty themselves into the sea, as they used, and therefore very properly may be said to fail from it; nay, the Nile itself may be called a sea, it being so large a confluence of water:

and the river shall be wasted and dried up; that is, the river Nile, which was not only very useful for their trade and navigation, but the fruitfulness of the country depended upon it; for the want of rain, in the land of Egypt, was supplied by the overflow of this river, at certain times, which brought and left such a slime upon the earth, as made it exceeding fertile; now the drying up of this river was either occasioned by some great drought, which God in judgment sent; or by the practices of some of their princes with this river, by which it was greatly impaired, and its usefulness diminished.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And the waters shall fail - Here commences a description of the “physical” calamities that would come upon the land, which continues to Isaiah 19:10. The previous verses contained an account of the national calamities by civil wars. It may be observed that discord, anarchy, and civil wars, are often connected with physical calamities; as famine, drought, pestilence. God has the elements, as well as the hearts of people, under his control; and when he chastises a nation, he often mingles anarchy, famine, discord, and the pestilence together. Often, too, civil wars have a “tendency” to produce these calamities. They annihilate industry, arrest enterprise, break up plans of commerce, and divert the attention of people from the cultivation of the soil. This might have been in part the case in Egypt; but it would seem also that God, by direct agency, intended to afflict them by drying up their streams in a remarkable manner.

From the sea - The parallelism here, as well as the whole scope of the passage, requires us to understand this of the Nile. The word ים yâm is sometimes used to denote a large river (see the notes at Isaiah 11:15; Isaiah 18:2). The Nile is often called a sea. Thus Pliny (“Nat. Hist.” ii. 35) says, ‘The water of the Nile resembles the sea.’ Thus, Seneca (“Quaest. Nat.” v. 2) says, ‘By continued accessions of water, it stagnates (stagnat) into the appearance of a broad and turbid sea.’ Compare Herodot. ii. 97; Diod. i. 12, 96; ‘To this day in Egypt, the Nile is el-Bahr, “the sea,” as its most common appellation.’ ‘Our Egyptian servant,’ says Dr. Robinson, ‘who spoke English, always called it “the sea.”’ (“Bib. Rescarches,” vol. i. 542).

And the river - The Nile.

Shall be wasted - This does not mean “entirely,” but its waters would fail so as to injure the country. It would not “overflow” in its accustomed manner, and the consequence would be, that the land would be desolate. It is well known that Egypt derives its great fertility entirely from the overflowing of the Nile. So important is this, that a public record is made at Cairo of the daily rise of the water. When the Nile rises to a less height than twelve cubits, a famine is the inevitable consequence, for then the water does not overflow the land. When it rises to a greater height than sixteen cubits, a famine is almost as certain - for then the superabundant waters are not drained off soon enough to allow them to sow the seed. The height of the inundation, therefore, that is necessary in order to insure a harvest, is from twelve to sixteen cubits. The annual overflow is in the month of August. The prophet here means that the Nile would not rise to the height that was desirable - or the waters should “fail” - and that the consequence would be a famine.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 19:5. The river shall be wasted and dried up. — The Nile shall not overflow its banks; and if no inundation, the land must become barren. For, as there is little or no rain in Egypt, its fertility depends on the overflowing of the Nile.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile