1A Message concerning Egypt: Watch this! God riding on a fast-moving cloud, moving in on Egypt! The god-idols of Egypt shudder and shake, Egyptians paralyzed by panic.
2God says, "I'll make Egyptian fight Egyptian, brother fight brother, neighbor fight neighbor, City fight city, kingdom fight kingdom— anarchy and chaos and killing!
3I'll knock the wind out of the Egyptians. They won't know coming from going. They'll go to their god-idols for answers; they'll conjure ghosts and hold s-ances, desperate for answers.
4But I'll turn the Egyptians over to a tyrant most cruel. I'll put them under the rule of a mean, merciless king." Decree of the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
5The River Nile will dry up, the riverbed baked dry in the sun.
6The canals will become stagnant and stink, every stream touching the Nile dry up. River vegetation will rot away
7the banks of the Nile-baked clay, The riverbed hard and smooth, river grasses dried up and gone with the wind.
8Fishermen will complain that the fishing's been ruined.
9Textile workers will be out of work, all weavers and workers in linen and cotton and wool
10Dispirited, depressed in their forced idleness— everyone who works for a living, jobless.
11The princes of Zoan are fools, the advisors of Pharaoh stupid. How could any of you dare tell Pharaoh, "Trust me: I'm wise. I know what's going on. Why, I'm descended from the old wisdom of Egypt"?
12There's not a wise man or woman left in the country. If there were, one of them would tell you what God-of-the-Angel-Armies has in mind for Egypt.
13As it is, the princes of Zoan are all fools and the princes of Memphis, dunces. The honored pillars of your society have led Egypt into detours and dead ends.
14God has scrambled their brains, Egypt's become a falling-down-in-his-own-vomit drunk.
15Egypt's hopeless, past helping, a senile, doddering old fool.
16On that Day, Egyptians will be like hysterical schoolgirls, screaming at the first hint of action from God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
17Little Judah will strike terror in Egyptians! Say "Judah" to an Egyptian and see panic. The word triggers fear of the God-of-the-Angel-Armies' plan against Egypt.
18On that Day, more than one city in Egypt will learn to speak the language of faith and promise to follow God-of-the-Angel-Armies. One of these cities will be honored with the title "City of the Sun."
19On that Day, there will be a place of worship to God in the center of Egypt and a monument to God at its border.
20It will show how the God-of-the-Angel-Armies has helped the Egyptians. When they cry out in prayer to God because of oppressors, he'll send them help, a savior who will keep them safe and take care of them.
21God will openly show himself to the Egyptians and they'll get to know him on that Day. They'll worship him seriously with sacrifices and burnt offerings. They'll make vows and keep them.
22God will wound Egypt, first hit and then heal. Egypt will come back to God, and God will listen to their prayers and heal them, heal them from head to toe.
23On that Day, there will be a highway all the way from Egypt to Assyria: Assyrians will have free range in Egypt and Egyptians in Assyria. No longer rivals, they'll worship together, Egyptians and Assyrians!
24On that Day, Israel will take its place alongside Egypt and Assyria, sharing the blessing from the center.
25God-of-the-Angel-Armies, who blessed Israel, will generously bless them all: "Blessed be Egypt, my people!... Blessed be Assyria, work of my hands!... Blessed be Israel, my heritage!"