Isaiah 19:13
in Isaiah 19The princes of Zoan have become fools; the princes of Memphis are deceived. The cornerstones of her tribes have led Egypt astray.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Memphis are deceived; they have caused Egypt to go astray, that are the corner-stone of her tribes.
KJV
The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof.
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This verse in Isaiah 19
Commentary
10 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The princes of Zoan - (the note at Isa 19:11). This “repetition” is intensive and emphatic, and shows the deep conviction of the prophet of their folly. The design is to show that “all” the counselors on which the Egyptians depended were fools. The princes of Noph - The Vulgate, the Septuagint, and the Chaldee, render this ‘Memphis,’ and there is no doubt that this is the city intended. The name Memphis may have easily arisen from Noph. It was written also “Moph,” and hence, Memphis. It is called “Menouf” by the Copts and Arabians.
This site's exposition
the princes of Zoan are fools
on Isaiah 19:11-13
The oracle mocks Egypt's proverbial wisdom by name: the princes of Zoan, Pharaoh's own advisers who called themselves sons of the wise and of ancient kings, are declared fools, and the same charge falls again on the princes of Noph. Pharaoh's counsel has already been asked and answered in the taunt of verse 12, where the Lord challenges Egypt's sages to declare what he has purposed against their own land. Henry and Alexander read the double naming of Zoan and Noph, two of Egypt's great capitals, as proof the judgment reaches the seat of government itself and not merely the countryside.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
(Verse 12 and following) How can you say to Pharaoh: I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? Where are your wise men now? Let them tell you and make known what the Lord of hosts has planned against Egypt. The princes of Tanis have become foolish, the princes of Memphis are deluded; the leaders of Egypt have led it astray. The Lord has poured into them a spirit of confusion; they have made Egypt stagger in all its undertakings, as a drunkard staggers and vomits.
(Vers. 11-13.) The foolish princes of Tanis, the wise counselors of Pharaoh, gave foolish counsel: How can you say to Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? Where are your wise men now? Let them tell you and make known what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt. The foolish princes of Tanis have become fools; the princes of Memphis are deceived; they have caused Egypt to stagger, the cornerstone of its peoples. Tanis was the capital of Egypt, as the Psalmist declares, where Moses performed many signs that are described in Exodus: He set his signs in Egypt and his wonders in the field of Tanis (Ps. 78:11). Memphis, also dedicated to magical arts, still shows traces of error from ancient times to the present. And this is briefly indicated, that with the coming of the Babylonian devastation, all the plans of the Magi, and of those who promised knowledge of the future, are proven foolishness, and with the advent of Christ everything is reduced to nothingness, not finding the advice of the Egyptian seers on how to suppress the Christian doctrine. However, the language of the Scriptures is that they place the angle for the kingdom, since it contains the peoples, and is the strongest in the whole house. And Christ, containing the walls of two peoples, is called the cornerstone (Ephesians II). And what he brings in: How will you say to Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of the ancient kings, signifies that the Egyptians imitate their heroes and gods, namely Horus, Isis, Osiris, and Typhon.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Third, he mocks the laziness of the deceived people: they have deceived. First, he sets out the deception of the wise: they have deceived the angle, that is, the kingdom, in which many are joined together like walls in an angle, below: your wisdom, and, …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
That at length God's holy religion should be brought into Egypt, and set up there, in part by the Jews that should flee thither for refuge, but more fully by the preachers of the gospel of Christ, through whose ministry churches should be planted in Egypt in the says of the Messiah (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Noph - Another chief city, and one of the kings seats, called also Moph, and by latter authors, Memphis. The stay - Their chief counsellors. Tribes - Of the provinces, which he calls by a title borrowed from the Hebrew, in whose language he spake and wrote this prophecy.
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The princes of Zoan are become fools,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Greek, Memphis (Ho 9:6); on the western bank of the Nile, capital of Lower Egypt, second only to Thebes in all Egypt: residence of the kings, until the Ptolemies removed to Alexandria; the word means the "port of the good" [PLUTARCH].
Are deceived “They have caused,” etc. - The text has וחתעו vehithu, And they have caused to err. Fifty of Kennicott’s MSS., fifty-three of De Rossi’s, and one of my own, ancient, thirty-two editions, and the Vulgate and Chaldee. omit the ו vau, and. Stay “Pillars” - פנת pinnath, to be pointed as plural pinnoth, without doubt. So Grotius, and so the Chaldee.
The words behind it
11 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| נֽוֹאֲלוּ֙ | noalu | they have become fools | H2973 → | |
| שָׂ֣רֵי | sarei | [the] officials of | H8269 → | 421 times |
| צֹ֔עַן | tzoan | Zoan | H6814 → | 7 times |
| נִשְּׁא֖וּ | nisheu | they have been deceived | H5377 → | 16 times |
| שָׂ֣רֵי | sarei | [the] officials of | H8269 → | 421 times |
| נֹ֑ף | nof | Memphis | H5297 → | |
| הִתְע֥וּ | hitu | they have misled | H8582 → | 50 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| מִצְרַ֖יִם | mitzrayim | Egypt | H4714 → | 641 times |
| פִּנַּ֥ת | pinat | [the] corner of | H6438 → | |
| שְׁבָטֶֽיהָ׃ | shevateiha | tribes its | H7626 → | 190 times |
נֽוֹאֲלוּ֙they have become fools
noaluH2973 →
שָׂ֣רֵי[the] officials of
sareiH8269 →421 times
צֹ֔עַןZoan
tzoanH6814 →7 times
נִשְּׁא֖וּthey have been deceived
nisheuH5377 →16 times
שָׂ֣רֵי[the] officials of
sareiH8269 →421 times
נֹ֑ףMemphis
nofH5297 →
הִתְע֥וּthey have misled
hituH8582 →50 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
מִצְרַ֖יִםEgypt
mitzrayimH4714 →641 times
פִּנַּ֥ת[the] corner of
pinatH6438 →
שְׁבָטֶֽיהָ׃tribes its
shevateihaH7626 →190 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 2:16The men of Memphis and Tahpanhes have shaved the crown of your head.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 44:1
This is the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews living in the land of Egypt—in Migdol, Tahpanhes, and Memphis—and in the land of Pathros:
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 46:14
“Announce it in Egypt, and proclaim it in Migdol; proclaim it in Memphis and Tahpanhes: ‘Take your positions and prepare yourself, for the sword devours those around you.’
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 43:7–9
So they entered the land of Egypt because they did not obey the voice of the LORD, and they went as far as Tahpanhes.
- Deuteronomy 33:20
Concerning Gad he said: “Blessed is he who enlarges the domain of Gad! He lies down like a lion and tears off an arm or a head.
- Jeremiah 44:1
Through
Zechariah 10:4The cornerstone will come from Judah, the tent peg from him, as well as the battle bow and every ruler together.
it leads to
- Zechariah 9:10
And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem, and the bow of war will be broken. Then He will proclaim peace to the nations. His dominion will extend…
- Ezra 9:8
But now, for a brief moment, grace has come from the LORD our God to preserve for us a remnant and to give us a stake in His holy place. Even in our bondage,…
- Zechariah 9:10
Through
Jeremiah 46:19Pack your bags for exile, O daughter dwelling in Egypt! For Memphis will be laid waste, destroyed and uninhabited.
it leads to
- Isaiah 20:4
so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old alike, naked and barefoot, with bared buttocks—to Egypt’s shame.
- Isaiah 20:4
Through
Jeremiah 46:14“Announce it in Egypt, and proclaim it in Migdol; proclaim it in Memphis and Tahpanhes: ‘Take your positions and prepare yourself, for the sword devours those around you.’
it leads to
- Jeremiah 46:10
For that day belongs to the Lord GOD of Hosts, a day of vengeance against His foes. The sword will devour until it is satisfied, until it is quenched with their blood. For the…
- Jeremiah 46:10
About Isaiah
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Joseph Addison Alexander, Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.