¶The waters from the sea will dry up, And the river will be parched and dry.
Parallel translations
- WEB The waters will fail from the sea, and the river will be wasted and become dry.
- KJV And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.
- BSB The waters of the Nile will dry up, and the riverbed will be parched and empty.
- NKJV The waters will fail from the sea, And the river will be wasted and dried up.
- NLT The waters of the Nile will fail to rise and flood the fields. The riverbed will be parched and dry.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The waters of Egypt's life-giving river will fail and dry up. It matters because the Nile, Egypt's source of security, is shown to be at God's disposal.
Overview
Egypt's prosperity depended entirely on the Nile and its annual flooding. Here Isaiah foretells the drying of the river, striking at the very foundation of Egyptian life and confidence. The God who gives water can also withhold it, exposing the fragility of every earthly source of security. The verse calls trust away from creation and toward the Creator who sustains all things.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Jer 51:36Therefore Yahweh says: “Behold, I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you. I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry.
- Ezek 30:12I will make the rivers dry, and will sell the land into the hand of evil men; and I will make the land desolate, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers: I, Yahweh, have spoken it.
- Zech 10:11He will pass through the sea of affliction, and will strike the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the Nile will dry up; and the pride of Assyria will be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt will depart.
- Zech 14:18If the family of Egypt doesn’t go up, and doesn’t come, neither will it rain on them. This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike the nations that don’t go up to keep the feast of tents.
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 19:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.