| 1 ¶ The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
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| 2 And I will set1 the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.
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| 3 And the spirit of Egypt shall fail2 in the midst thereof; and I will destroy3 the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.
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| 4 And the Egyptians will I give4 over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts.
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| 5 And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.
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| 6 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.
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| 7 The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be5 driven away, and be no more.
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| 8 The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.
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| 9 Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave networks,6 shall be confounded.
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| 10 And they shall be broken in the purposes7 thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish.8
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| 11 Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?
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| 12 Where are they? where are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.
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| 13 The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that9 are the stay of the tribes thereof.
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| 14 The LORD hath mingled a perverse10 spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.
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| 15 Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.
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| 16 In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which he shaketh over it.
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| 17 And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, every one that maketh mention thereof shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the LORD of hosts, which he hath determined against it.
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| 18 ¶ In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language11 of Canaan, and swear to the LORD of hosts; one shall be called, The city of destruction.12
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| 19 In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the LORD.
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| 20 And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the LORD because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them.
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| 21 And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the LORD, and perform it.
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| 22 And the LORD shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the LORD, and he shall be intreated of them, and shall heal them.
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| 23 In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.
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| 24 In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land:
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| 25 Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.
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