5 And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up; 6 and the rivers shall stink, and the streams of Egypt shall be diminished and drain away: the reeds and sedges shall wither. 7 The meadows by the Nile, on the banks of the Nile, and everything sown by the Nile, shall be dried up, be driven away, and be no [more]. 8 And the fishers shall mourn, and all they that cast fish-hook into the Nile shall lament, and they that spread net upon the waters shall languish. 9 And they that work in fine flax, and they that weave white stuffs shall be ashamed. 10 And her pillars shall be broken in pieces, and all workers for hire shall be sad of soul.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Isaiah 19:5-10
Commentary on Isaiah 19:1-17
(Read Isaiah 19:1-17)
God shall come into Egypt with his judgments. He will raise up the causes of their destruction from among themselves. When ungodly men escape danger, they are apt to think themselves secure; but evil pursues sinners, and will speedily overtake them, except they repent. The Egyptians will be given over into the hand of one who shall rule them with rigour, as was shortly after fulfilled. The Egyptians were renowned for wisdom and science; yet the Lord would give them up to their own perverse schemes, and to quarrel, till their land would be brought by their contests to become an object of contempt and pity. He renders sinners afraid of those whom they have despised and oppressed; and the Lord of hosts will make the workers of iniquity a terror to themselves, and to each other; and every object around a terror to them.