HOLY BIBLE: Isaiah 19 (original) (raw)

1 ὅρασις Αἰγύπτου ἰδοὺ κύριος κάθηται ἐπὶ νεφέλης κούφης καὶ ἥξει εἰς Αἴγυπτον καὶ σεισθήσεται τὰ χειροποίητα Αἰγύπτου ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ καὶ ἡ καρδία αὐτῶν ἡττηθήσεται ἐν αὐτοῖς 2 καὶ ἐπεγερθήσονται Αἰγύπτιοι ἐ{P'} Αἰγυπτίους καὶ πολεμήσει ἄνθρωπος τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἄνθρωπος τὸν πλησίον αὐτοῦ πόλις ἐπὶ πόλιν καὶ νομὸς ἐπὶ νομόν 3 καὶ ταραχθήσεται τὸ πνεῦμα τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἐν αὐτοῖς καὶ τὴν βουλὴν αὐτῶν διασκεδάσω καὶ ἐπερωτήσουσιν τοὺς θεοὺς αὐτῶν καὶ τὰ ἀγάλματα αὐτῶν καὶ τοὺς ἐκ τῆς γῆς φωνοῦντας καὶ τοὺς ἐγγαστριμύθους 4 καὶ παραδώσω Αἴγυπτον εἰς χεῖρας ἀνθρώπων κυρίων σκληρῶν καὶ βασιλεῖς σκληροὶ κυριεύσουσιν αὐτῶν τάδε λέγει κύριος σαβαωθ 5 καὶ πίονται οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι ὕδωρ τὸ παρὰ θάλασσαν ὁ δὲ ποταμὸς ἐκλείψει καὶ ξηρανθήσεται 6 καὶ ἐκλείψουσιν οἱ ποταμοὶ καὶ αἱ διώρυγες τοῦ ποταμοῦ καὶ ξηρανθήσεται πᾶσα συναγωγὴ ὕδατος καὶ ἐν παντὶ ἕλει καλάμου καὶ παπύρου 7 καὶ τὸ ἄχι τὸ χλωρὸν πᾶν τὸ κύκλῳ τοῦ ποταμοῦ καὶ πᾶν τὸ σπειρόμενον διὰ τοῦ ποταμοῦ ξηρανθήσεται ἀνεμόφθορον 8 καὶ στενάξουσιν οἱ ἁλεεῖς καὶ στενάξουσιν πάντες οἱ βάλλοντες ἄγκιστρον εἰς τὸν ποταμόν καὶ οἱ βάλλοντες σαγήνας καὶ οἱ ἀμφιβολεῖς πενθήσουσιν 9 καὶ αἰσχύνη λήμψεται τοὺς ἐργαζομένους τὸ λίνον τὸ σχιστὸν καὶ τοὺς ἐργαζομένους τὴν βύσσον 10 καὶ ἔσονται οἱ διαζόμενοι αὐτὰ ἐν ὀδύνῃ καὶ πάντες οἱ τὸν ζῦθον ποιοῦντες λυπηθήσονται καὶ τὰς ψυχὰς πονέσουσιν

1 What burden for Egypt? See where the Lord comes into Egypt, with the cloud-drift for his chariot, and all the false gods of Egypt tremble, the very heart of Egypt melts away! 2 Egyptians I will embroil with Egyptians; each man will turn on his neighbour, one city, one kingdom on another. 3 The spirit of Egypt shall fail her, and I will daze her wits, till men go about consulting oracle and diviner, wizard and soothsayer. 4 Tyrants for Egypt’s masters, a fierce king to rule over it; the Lord of hosts has decreed it. 5 Waters of the sea shall ebb, river waters be parched and dried up, 6 the brooks failing, the channels, with their high banks,[1] flowing in a thin stream, reed and sedge withered away. 7 Laid bare, yonder river-bed, from its source; fade the crops its moisture nourished, fade and dwindle to nothing. 8 Sad days for the fisher-folk; never a hook cast, never a net sunk, all is grief and repining. 9 Disappointed of their trade, the men who worked in flax, combing and weaving it so cunningly; 10 in those brackish swamps there are no fish-ponds a-making now.[2]

1 Onus Ægypti.

Ecce Dominus ascendet super nubem levem,
et ingredietur Ægyptum,
et commovebuntur simulacra Ægypti a facie ejus,
et cor Ægypti tabescet in medio ejus,

2
et concurrere faciam Ægyptios adversus Ægyptios;
et pugnabit vir contra fratrem suum, et vir contra amicum suum,
civitas adversus civitatem, regnum adversus regnum. 3
Et dirumpetur spiritus Ægypti in visceribus ejus,
et consilium ejus præcipitabo;
et interrogabunt simulacra sua, et divinos suos,
et pythones, et ariolos. 4
Et tradam Ægyptum in manu dominorum crudelium,
et rex fortis dominabitur eorum,
ait Dominus Deus exercituum. 5
Et arescet aqua de mari,
et fluvius desolabitur atque siccabitur. 6
Et deficient flumina,
attenuabuntur et siccabuntur rivi aggerum,
calamus et juncus marcescet. 7
Nudabitur alveus rivi a fonte suo,
et omnis sementis irrigua
siccabitur, arescet, et non erit. 8
Et mœrebunt piscatores,
et lugebunt omnes mittentes in flumen hamum;
et expandentes rete super faciem aquarum emarcescent. 9
Confundentur qui operabantur linum,
pectentes et texentes subtilia. 10
Et erunt irrigua ejus flaccentia:
omnes qui faciebant lacunas ad capiendos pisces.

[1] ‘The channels, with their high banks’; or perhaps (according to the Hebrew text) ‘the channels of Egypt’.

[2] vv. 7-10. Several phrases in this passage are of doubtful interpretation, particularly the last verse; the Hebrew text here being understood by some as meaning ‘The pillars of the land (that is, the nobles) shall be crushed, and those who work for hire will grieve’.

[3] The Latin implies that Egypt is the corner-stone of her own commonwealth, but the Hebrew text can equally well be interpreted as applying that description to the great men of the country.

[4] See note on 9.14 above.

[5] The Hebrew text here may mean, not that the Egyptians will serve the Assyrians, but they will serve (i.e. worship the true God) with the Assyrians.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd