1. This is a message about Egypt.The Lord is coming to Egypt, riding swiftly on a cloud. The Egyptian idols tremble before him, and the people of Egypt lose their courage.
2. The Lord says, “I will stir up civil war in Egypt and turn brother against brother and neighbour against neighbour. Rival cities will fight each other, and rival kings will struggle for power.
3. I am going to frustrate the plans of the Egyptians and destroy their morale. They will ask their idols to help them, and they will go and consult mediums and ask the spirits of the dead for advice.
4. I will hand the Egyptians over to a tyrant, to a cruel king who will rule them. I, the Lord Almighty, have spoken.”
5. The water will be low in the Nile, and the river will gradually dry up.
6. The channels of the river will stink as they slowly go dry. Reeds and rushes will wither,
7. and all the crops sown along the banks of the Nile will dry up and be blown away.
8. Everyone who earns his living by fishing in the Nile will groan and cry; their hooks and their nets will be useless.
9. Those who make linen cloth will be in despair;
10. weavers and skilled workers will be broken and depressed.
11. The leaders of the city of Zoan are fools! Egypt's wisest people give stupid advice! How dare they tell the king that they are successors to the ancient scholars and kings?