Isaiah 19:10
in Isaiah 19The workers in cloth will be dejected, and all the hired workers will be sick at heart.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the pillars of Egypt shall be broken in pieces; all they that work for hire shall be grieved in soul.
KJV
And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish.
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This verse in Isaiah 19
Commentary
11 notes on this verseAnd they shall be broken, etc. “Her stores” - שתתיה shathotheyha, αποθηκαι, granaries. - Aquila. All that make sluices and ponds for fish “All that make a gain of pools for fish” - This obscure line is rendered by different interpreters in very different manners.
This site's exposition
The bulrushes by the Nile
on Isaiah 19:7-10
The trades of the Nile fall: "the fishermen will mourn", and "The workers in flax will be dismayed". Verse 10 carries the loss down to "all the hired workers". Gill and Clarke identify linen as the chief export of Egypt in Isaiah's day, the real wealth of the nation.
This site's exposition
The workers in cloth will be dejected
The words here are hard, and the versions divide. One reading takes the first word as the foundations of Egypt, meaning its princes, the same men called cornerstones in verse 13. The ruin then runs from the princes of the land down to the hired worker.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
(v. 8-10) And the fishermen shall mourn, and all those who cast the hook into the river shall lament, and those who spread the net over the face of the water shall wither away. And those who work with flax, twisting and weaving fine fabrics, shall be put to shame; and its pools shall be dried up, and all those who make fishing-gear for catching fish shall mourn.
(Verset 5 et suiv.) And the sea water will dry up, and the river will be deserted and dried up, and the rivers will fail, and the streams of the embankments will be thin and dry up. The reed and the rush will wither, the bed of the river will be exposed from its source, and all irrigated crops will dry up. It will dry up and cease to exist.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Third, the ruin of various craftsmen, they shall be confounded that wrought in flax, which is raised in wet places. Flaccid, that is, parched, pools, fish ponds.
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
God can find ways to deprive a country even of that which is its staple commodity. The Egyptians may themselves remember the fish they have formerly eaten freely, but now cannot have for money. And that which aggravates the loss of these advantages by the river is that it is their own doing (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof,.... Meaning either the persons that work in flax, or in making nets; who shall be disappointed in their views, expectations, and designs, in bringing them to a good market, since there will be no buyers.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
in the purposes--rather, "the foundations," that is, "the nobles shall be broken" or brought low: so Isa 3:1; Ps 11:3; compare Isa 19:13, "The princes--the stay of the tribes. The Arabs call a prince "a pillar of the people" [MAURER].
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+odd-straight-quotes
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And they shall be broken - There has been a great variety of opinion in regard to the interpretation of this verse, and much difficulty in the construction of the Hebrew words. The Vulgate renders it, ‘And its wet places shall fail; all who make ponds to take fish.’ The Septuagint, ‘And all who make beer (ζύθον zuthon) shall lament, and shall afflict their souls.’ This ζύθον zuthon was a sort of malt liquor made of fruits by fermentation, and was used in Egypt in the place of wine, since the grape did not flourish there. Jerome on this place says, that this was much used also in Dalmatia and Pannonia, and was commonly called “Sabaium.” The Chaldee renders this, ‘And the place where they weave cloth shall be trodden down, and the place where they make fish ponds, and where they collect waters, each one for his own life.’ This variety of reading arises chiefly from the different modes of “pointing” the Hebrew words. The word rendered ‘broken’ (מדכאים medâkâ'iym) means “trodden down,” from דכא dâkâ' “to tread, or trample down,” and agrees in the Hebrew with the word rendered ‘purposes - the proposes shall be trodden down.’ The word ‘purposes’ (שׁתתיה shâtoteyhâ) is found only in the plural, and is translated in Psa 11:3, ‘foundations,’ from שׁית shiyth, “foundation or pillar.” According to this, it would mean that all “the pillars or foundations, that is, probably all the “nobles” of Egypt, would be trodden down. But this does not well suit the connection. Others derive it from שׁתה shâtâh, “to drink;” and suppose that it means that which is prepared for drink shall be trodden down or destroyed. Others suppose that it is derived from שׁתה shâtâh, “to weave,” and that it refers to the places where they wove the cloth, that is, their looms; or to the places where they made their nets. […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
And its foundations shall be crushed, all who make dams Eklusa in O.F., a sluice. Comp.
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
And there shall be trodden under foot the well watered place, where they have been making pits, waterpools each for himself.
How will you say from now on to Pharaoh, each one of you about himself, I am a son of the wise?
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְהָי֥וּ | vehayu | and they will be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| שָׁתֹתֶ֖יהָ | shatoteiha | foundations its | H8356 → | |
| מְדֻכָּאִ֑ים | medukaim | crushed | H1792 → | 18 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| עֹ֥שֵׂי | ʾosei | [those who] work of | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| שֶׂ֖כֶר | sekher | wage[s] | H7938 → | |
| אַגְמֵי־ | ʾagmei- | [will be] grieved of | H99 → | |
| נָֽפֶשׁ׃ | nafesh | soul | H5315 → | 754 times |
וְהָי֥וּand they will be
vehayuH1961 →3559 times
שָׁתֹתֶ֖יהָfoundations its
shatoteihaH8356 →
מְדֻכָּאִ֑יםcrushed
medukaimH1792 →18 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
עֹ֥שֵׂי[those who] work of
ʾoseiH6213 →2628 times
שֶׂ֖כֶרwage[s]
sekherH7938 →
אַגְמֵי־[will be] grieved of
ʾagmei-H99 →
נָֽפֶשׁ׃soul
nafeshH5315 →754 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
7 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
Exodus 7:19And the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over their rivers and canals and ponds and reservoirs—that they may become blood.’ There…
it leads to
- Exodus 14:21
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove back the sea with a strong east wind that turned it into dry land. So the waters were…
- Exodus 8:16
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, that it may turn into swarms of gnats throughout the land of Egypt.’”
- Exodus 10:21
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that darkness may spread over the land of Egypt—a palpable darkness.”
- Exodus 10:12
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, so that the locusts may swarm over it and devour every plant in the land—everything that the hail has…
- Exodus 8:5–6
And the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers and canals and ponds, and cause the frogs to come up onto the land of Egypt.’”
- Exodus 14:21
Through
Exodus 8:5And the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers and canals and ponds, and cause the frogs to come up onto the land of Egypt.’”
it leads to
- Exodus 7:19
And the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over their rivers and canals and ponds and reservoirs—that they may become blood.’ There…
- Exodus 7:19
Through
Deuteronomy 11:10For the land that you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated on foot, like a vegetable garden.
it leads to
- Zechariah 14:18
And if the people of Egypt will not go up and enter in, then the rain will not fall on them; this will be the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who…
- Zechariah 14:18
Where this verse is studied
About Isaiah
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; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.