The rivers will become foul. The streams of Egypt will be diminished and dried up. The reeds and flags will wither away.
Parallel translations
- KJV And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither.
- BSB The canals will stink; the streams of Egypt will trickle and dry up; the reeds and rushes will wither.
- NKJV The rivers will turn foul; The brooks of defense will be emptied and dried up; The reeds and rushes will wither.
- NASB The canals will emit a stench, The streams of Egypt will thin out and dry up; The reeds and rushes will rot away.
- NLT The canals of the Nile will dry up, and the streams of Egypt will stink with rotting reeds and rushes.
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 canals and streams of Egypt grow foul and dry, and the reeds wither. It matters because it portrays the unraveling of Egypt's whole agricultural system under judgment.
Overview
The drying of the Nile spreads to its branches and irrigation channels, leaving stagnant water and dying vegetation. Reeds and rushes, ordinary signs of the river's vitality, wither away. The detailed picture shows how thoroughly divine judgment can dismantle a civilization's lifeblood. It reinforces that what nations rely on can be removed at God's word.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Isa 37:25I have dug and drunk water, and with the sole of my feet I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt.”
- 2 Kgs 19:24I have dug and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet will I dry up all the rivers of Egypt.”
- Exod 7:18The fish that are in the river shall die, and the river shall become foul; and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink water from the river.”’”
- Job 8:11“Can the papyrus grow up without mire? Can the rushes grow without water?
- Exod 2:3When she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket for him, and coated it with tar and with pitch. She put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank.
- Isa 18:2that sends ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of papyrus on the waters, saying, “Go, you swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth, to a people awesome from their beginning onward, a nation that measures out and treads down, whose land the rivers divide!”
- Isa 15:6For the waters of Nimrim will be desolate; for the grass has withered away, the tender grass fails, there is no green thing.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 19:6 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.