11 The princes of Zoan are mere fools ; The advice of Pharaoh's wisest advisers has become stupid . How can you men say to Pharaoh , "I am a son of the wise , a son of ancient kings "? 12 Well then , where are your wise men ? Please let them tell you, And let them understand what the Lord of hosts Has purposed against Egypt . 13 The princes of Zoan have acted foolishly , The princes of Memphis are deluded ; Those who are the cornerstone of her tribes Have led Egypt astray . 14 The Lord has mixed within her a spirit of distortion ; They have led Egypt astray in all that it does , As a drunken man staggers in his vomit . 15 There will be no work for Egypt Which its head or tail , its palm branch or bulrush , may do .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Isaiah 19:11-15
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.