Bible Strands
Isaiah 19:22
And the LORD will strike Egypt with a plague; He will strike them but heal them. They will turn to the LORD, and He will hear their prayers and heal them.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Isaiah pronounces Yahweh's future intervention against Egypt, positioned between the nation's acknowledgment of God (19:21) and the establishment of a shared worship route with Assyria (19:23).
The words — נָגַף (na.Gaf) and נָגֹף (na.Gof) carry the literal sense of striking or smiting, while רָפָא (ra.Fo') means to heal and שׁוּב (Sha.vu) denotes turning back.
The thread — This sequence of divine striking followed by healing runs through Deuteronomy 32:39 and aligns with the disciplinary harvest described in Hebrews 12:11.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to accept that correction is the necessary mechanism for repentance, demanding submission to divine action as the only route to restoration.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Hebrews 12:11 No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who have been trained by it.
- Deuteronomy 32:39 See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand.
- Hosea 14:1 Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled by your iniquity.
- Job 5:18 For He wounds, but He also binds; He strikes, but His hands also heal.
- Isaiah 6:10 Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
- Isaiah 19:1 This is the burden against Egypt: Behold, the LORD rides on a swift cloud; He is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt will tremble before Him, and the hearts of the Egyptians will melt within them.
- Isaiah 45:14 This is what the LORD says: “The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, along with the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you and will be yours; they will trudge behind you; they will come over in chains and bow down to you. They will confess to you: ‘God is indeed with you, and there is no other; there is no other God.’”
- Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.
- Hosea 5:15 Then I will return to My place until they admit their guilt and seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”
- Hosea 6:2 After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His presence.