Isaiah 19:2

THE MESSAGE

God says, "I'll make Egyptian fight Egyptian, brother fight brother, neighbor fight neighbor, City fight city, kingdom fight kingdom— anarchy and chaos and killing! I'll knock the wind out of the Egyptians. They won't know coming from going. They'll go to their god-idols for answers; they'll conjure ghosts and hold séances, desperate for answers. But I'll turn the Egyptians over to a tyrant most cruel. I'll put them under the rule of a mean, merciless king." Decree of the Master, God -of-the-Angel-Armies.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
I will provoke Egyptians against Egyptians;each will fight against his brotherand each against his friend,city against city, kingdom against kingdom.

Hebrew Names Version
I will stir up the Mitzrim against the Mitzrim: and they shall fight everyone against his brother, and everyone against his neighbor; city against city, [and] kingdom against kingdom.

King James Version
And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.

English Standard Version
And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians, and they will fight, each against another and each against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom;

New American Standard Bible
"So I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians; And they will fight, each against his brother and each against his neighbor, City against city and kingdom against kingdom.

New Century Version
The Lord says, "I will cause the Egyptians to fight against themselves. People will fight with their relatives; neighbors will fight neighbors; cities will fight cities; kingdoms will fight kingdoms.

Amplified Bible
"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.

World English Bible
I will stir up the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight everyone against his brother, and everyone against his neighbor; city against city, [and] kingdom against kingdom.

Geneva Bible (1587)
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.

Legacy Standard Bible
"So I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians;And they will each fight against his brother and each against his neighbor,City against city and kingdom against kingdom.

Berean Standard Bible
"So I will incite Egyptian against Egyptian; brother will fight against brother, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.

Contemporary English Version
"I will punish Egypt with civil war— neighbors, cities, and kingdoms will fight each other.

Complete Jewish Bible
"I will incite Egypt against Egypt, brother will fight against brother, friend against friend, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.

Darby Translation
And I will incite the Egyptians against the Egyptians; and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, kingdom against kingdom.

Easy-to-Read Version
The Lord says, "I will cause the Egyptians to fight against themselves. Men will fight their brothers. Neighbors will be against neighbors. Cities will be against cities. Kingdoms will be against kingdoms.

George Lamsa Translation
And I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian; and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbor; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.

Good News Translation
The Lord says, "I will stir up civil war in Egypt and turn brother against brother and neighbor against neighbor. Rival cities will fight each other, and rival kings will struggle for power.

Lexham English Bible
"And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians, and each one will fight against his brother and each one against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.

Literal Translation
And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians; and they each man shall fight against his brother; and each against his neighbor; city against city, kingdom against kingdom.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For thus saieth the LORDE: I wil stere vp the Egiptians one agaynst another amonge them selues, so that one shalbe euer agaynst his brother and neghboure, yee one cite agaynst another, and one kyngdome agaynst another.

American Standard Version
And I will stir up the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbor; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.

Bible in Basic English
And I will send the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they will be fighting every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; town against town, and kingdom against kingdom.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And I will spur Egypt against Egypt; and they shall fight every one against his brother, and everyone against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.

King James Version (1611)
And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight euery one against his brother, and euery one against his neighbour; citie against citie, and kingdome against kingdome.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And I wyll set the Egyptians one agaynst another, so that one brother shall fyght agaynst another, and one neighbour against another, citie against citie, and realme against realme.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the Egyptians shall be stirred up against the Egyptians: and a man shall fight against his brother, and a man against his neighbor, city against city, and law against law.

English Revised Version
And I will stir up the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And Y schal make Egipcians to renne togidere ayens Egipcians, and a man schal fiyte ayens his brother, and a man ayens his frend, a citee ayens a citee, and a rewme ayens a rewme.

Update Bible Version
And I will stir up the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbor; city against city, [and] kingdom against kingdom.

Webster's Bible Translation
And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbor; city against city, [and] kingdom against kingdom.

New English Translation
"I will provoke civil strife in Egypt, brothers will fight with each other, as will neighbors, cities, and kingdoms.

New King James Version
"I will set Egyptians against Egyptians; Everyone will fight against his brother, And everyone against his neighbor, City against city, kingdom against kingdom.

New Living Translation
"I will make Egyptian fight against Egyptian— brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, province against province.

New Life Bible
"I will make Egyptians go against Egyptians. Each of them will fight against his brother, and each against his neighbor. City will fight against city, and nation against nation.

New Revised Standard
I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians, and they will fight, one against the other, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom;

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians, And they shall fight - Every one against his brother and Every one against his neighbour, - City against city, and Kingdom against kingdom.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And I will set the Egyptians to fight against the Egyptians: and they shall fight brother against brother, and friend against friend, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.

Revised Standard Version
And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians, and they will fight, every man against his brother and every man against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom;

Young's Literal Translation
And I armed Egyptians against Egyptians, And they fought, each against his brother, And each against his neighbour, City against city, kingdom against kingdom.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"So I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians; And they will each fight against his brother and each against his neighbor, City against city and kingdom against kingdom.

Contextual Overview

¹ A Message concerning Egypt: Watch this! God riding on a fast-moving cloud, moving in on Egypt! The god-idols of Egypt shudder and shake, Egyptians paralyzed by panic. ²God says, "I'll make Egyptian fight Egyptian, brother fight brother, neighbor fight neighbor, City fight city, kingdom fight kingdom— anarchy and chaos and killing! I'll knock the wind out of the Egyptians. They won't know coming from going. They'll go to their god-idols for answers; they'll conjure ghosts and hold séances, desperate for answers. But I'll turn the Egyptians over to a tyrant most cruel. I'll put them under the rule of a mean, merciless king." Decree of the Master, God -of-the-Angel-Armies. ⁵The 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. ¹¹The princes of Zoan are fools, the advisors of Pharaoh stupid. How could any of you dare tell Pharaoh, "Trust me: I'm wise. I know what's going on. Why, I'm descended from the old wisdom of Egypt"? There's not a wise man or woman left in the country. If there were, one of them would tell you what God -of-the-Angel-Armies has in mind for Egypt. As it is, the princes of Zoan are all fools and the princes of Memphis, dunces. The honored pillars of your society have led Egypt into detours and dead ends. God has scrambled their brains, Egypt's become a falling-down-in-his-own-vomit drunk. Egypt's hopeless, past helping, a senile, doddering old fool. ¹⁶On that Day, Egyptians will be like hysterical schoolgirls, screaming at the first hint of action from God -of-the-Angel-Armies. Little Judah will strike terror in Egyptians! Say "Judah" to an Egyptian and see panic. The word triggers fear of the God -of-the-Angel-Armies' plan against Egypt.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I will: Isaiah 19:13, Isaiah 19:14, Isaiah 9:21, Judges 7:22, Judges 9:23, 1 Samuel 14:16, 1 Samuel 14:20, 2 Chronicles 20:22, 2 Chronicles 20:23, Ezekiel 38:21, Matthew 12:25, Revelation 17:12-17

set: Heb. mingle

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 16:21 - divided Isaiah 19:4 - a cruel lord Jeremiah 46:12 - stumbled Jeremiah 51:46 - ruler against Ezekiel 30:4 - the sword Haggai 2:22 - every Zechariah 8:10 - for Matthew 24:7 - nation shall Mark 3:24 - General Mark 13:8 - nation shall Luke 11:17 - Every

Cross-References

Genesis 19:21
"All right, Lot. If you insist. I'll let you have your way. And I won't stamp out the town you've spotted. But hurry up. Run for it! I can't do anything until you get there." That's why the town was called Zoar, that is, Smalltown.

Genesis 19:29
And that's the story: When God destroyed the Cities of the Plain, he was mindful of Abraham and first got Lot out of there before he blasted those cities off the face of the Earth.

Acts 16:15
After she was baptized, along with everyone in her household, she said in a surge of hospitality, "If you're confident that I'm in this with you and believe in the Master truly, come home with me and be my guests." We hesitated, but she wouldn't take no for an answer.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians,.... Or mingle and confound them together; in which confusion they should fall upon and destroy one another, as the Midianites did: the phrase is expressive of rebellions and civil wars, as the following words explain it; and which show, that the calamities of Egypt should be brought upon them, not by means of a foreign invasion, but by internal quarrels, and other means, which the Lord would in judgment send among them:

and they shall fight everyone against his brother, and everyone against his neighbour; and destroy one another:

city against city; of which there were great numbers in Egypt; in the times of Amasis, it is said s, there were twenty thousand:

[and] kingdom against kingdom; for though Egypt was but originally one kingdom, yet upon the death of Sethon, one of its kings, who had been a priest of Vulcan, there being no successor, twelve of the nobility started up, and set up themselves as kings, and divided the kingdom into twelve parts t, and reigned in confederacy, for the space of fifteen years; when, falling out among themselves, they excluded Psammiticus, one of the twelve, from any share of government; who gathering an army together, fought with and conquered the other eleven, and seized the whole kingdom to himself, and who seems afterwards regarded in this prophecy; all this happened in the times of Manasseh king of Judah, and so in or quickly after Isaiah's time: though some understand this of the civil wars between Apries and Amasis, in the times of Nebuchadnezzar. The Septuagint version renders the phrase here, "nome against nome"; for the whole land of Egypt, by Sesostris, one of its kings, was divided into thirty six u nomes, districts, or provinces, whose names are given by Herodotus w, Pliny x, and others; for so the words of that version should be rendered, and not as they are by the Latin interpreter, and in the Arabic version, which follows it, "law upon law".

s Herodot. l. 2. c. 177. t Ib. c. 147. u There were ten of them in Thebais, the same number in Delta, and sixteen between them. w Euterpe, sive l. 2. c. 164, 165, 166. x Nat. Hist. I. 5. c. 9. Ptolem. Geograph. l. 4. c. 4. Strabo Geogr. l. 17. P. 541.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And I will set - (סכסכתי sı̂ksaketı̂y). This word (from סכך sākak) means properly “to cover,” to spread over, to hide, conceal, to protect. Another signification of the verb is, to weave, to intermingle. It may mean here, ‘I will arm the Egyptians against each other’ (Gesenius); or, as in our version, ‘I will mingle, confound, or throw them into discord and strife.’ The Septuagint renders it, Ἐπεγερθήσονται Epegerthēsontai - ‘They shall be excited,’ or, ‘raised up.’ Symmachus, Συμβαλῶ Sumbalō. Syriac and Chaldee, ‘I will excite.’ The sense is, that there would be discord and civil war, and this is traced to the agency or overruling providence of God - meaning that he would “permit and overrule” it. Compare the notes at Isaiah 45:7 : ‘I make peace, and I create evil; I, Yahweh, do all these things;’ Amos 3:6 : ‘Shall there be evil in a city and Jehovah hath not done it?’ The civil war here referred to was probably that which arose between the twelve kings in the time of the dodekarchy (see the Analysis to the chapter), and which resulted in the single dominion of Psammetichus. Dr. Newton (“On the Prophecies,” xii.) supposes, however, that the prophet refers to the civil wars between Apries and Amasis at the time of the invasion by Nebuchadnezzar. But it agrees much better with the former discord than with this. The description which follows is that of anarchy or civil strife, where “many” parties are formed, and would naturally lead to the supposition that there were more than two engaged.

And kingdom against kingdom - Septuagint, Νόμος έπὶ νόμων Nomos epi nomōn - ‘Nome against nomes.’ Egypt was formerly divided into forty-two “nomes” or districts. The version by the Septuagint was made in Egypt, and the translators would naturally employ the terms which were in common use. Still the event referred to was probably not that of one “nome” contending against another, but a civil war in which one dynasty would be excited against another (Gesenius), or when there would be anarchy and strife among the different members of the dodekarchy. See the Analysis of the chapter.