Bible Strands
Isaiah 19:6
The canals will stink; the streams of Egypt will trickle and dry up; the reeds and rushes will wither.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Isaiah pronounces judgment on Egypt, detailing the collapse of its irrigation networks and agriculture as part of a broader oracle against the nation.
The words — The Hebrew וְהֶאֶזְנִיחוּ (vehe’ezniḥû) literally means “they will stink,” describing the decay of יְאֹרֵי (ye’ôrey), “the canals of,” Egypt.
The thread — The drying of Egyptian waterways echoes Isaiah 37:25, while the stinking river recalls Exodus 7:18, and the withered reeds parallel the botanical principle in Job 8:11.
Why it lands — The text states that Egypt’s canals will stink, its streams will trickle and dry up, and its reeds and rushes will wither, demanding recognition that the nation’s survival depends entirely on God’s sovereign control over creation.
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 they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 37:25 I have dug wells and drunk foreign waters. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”
- Exodus 7:18 The fish in the Nile will die, the river will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink its water.’”
- Job 8:11 Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Do reeds flourish without water?
- Exodus 2:3 But when she could no longer hide him, she got him a papyrus basket and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in the basket and set it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.
- 2 Kings 19:24 I have dug wells and drunk foreign waters. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”
- Isaiah 15:6 The waters of Nimrim are dried up, and the grass is withered; the vegetation is gone, and the greenery is no more.
- Isaiah 18:2 which sends couriers by sea, in papyrus vessels on the waters. Go, swift messengers, to a people tall and smooth-skinned, to a people widely feared, to a powerful nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers.