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.
Parallel translations
- WEB The rivers will become foul. The streams of Egypt will be diminished and dried up. The reeds and flags will wither away.
- 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 digged, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.
- 2 Kgs 19:24I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places.
- Exod 7:18And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall lothe to drink of the water of the river.
- Job 8:11Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water?
- Exod 2:3And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.
- Isa 18:2That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!
- Isa 15:6For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate: for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing.
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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 19:6 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.