Isaiah 19:12
in Isaiah 19Where are your wise men now? Let them tell you and reveal what the LORD of Hosts has planned against Egypt.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Where then are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now; and let them know what Jehovah of hosts hath purposed concerning Egypt.
KJV
Where are they? where are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the Lord of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.
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This verse in Isaiah 19
Commentary
10 notes on this verse“Let them come” - Here too a word seems to have been left out of the text. After חכמיך chochameycha, thy wise men, two MSS., one ancient, add יבאו yibu, let them come; which, if we consider the form and construction of the sentence, has very much the appearance of being genuine: otherwise the connective conjunction at the beginning of the next member is not only superfluous but embarrassing. See also the Version of the Septuagint, in which the same deficiency is manifest.
This site's exposition
The princes of Zoan are mere fools
on Isaiah 19:11-13
The wisdom of Egypt is mocked by name: "The princes of Zoan are mere fools". Verse 13 brings the same charge against "the princes of Memphis". Matthew Henry and Joseph Addison Alexander note that Zoan and Memphis were royal capitals, so the judgment reaches the seat of government.
This site's exposition
Where are your wise men now?
Barnes hears the prophet turning to Pharaoh about the wise counselors of his court. They claimed to reveal the future, yet none of them could tell what the LORD of Hosts had planned against Egypt. Isaiah 47:13 mocks the counselors of Babylon the same way.
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
Second, he mocks the confidence of the king: where now, and first, the question, below: there is none that can save you (Isa 47:15); second, the answer: fools have withered away, that is, have failed, as above.
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
Where are they? where are thy wise men?....
2 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Let them now show their wisdom by foreseeing what ruin is coming upon their nation, and preventing it, if they can. Let them with all their skill know what the Lord of hosts has purposed upon Egypt, and arm themselves accordingly. Nay, so far are they from doing this that they themselves are, in effect, contriving the ruin of Egypt, and hastening it on,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Where are they? - This whole verse is an appeal by the prophet to the king of Egypt respecting the counselors and soothsayers of his kingdom. The sense is, ‘a time of distress and danger is evidently coming upon Egypt. They pretend to be wise; and there is now occasion for all their wisdom, and opportunity to evince it. Let them show it. Let them declare what is coming upon the nation, and take proper measures to meet and remove it; and they will then demonstrate that it would be proper for Pharaoh to repose confidence in them.’ But if they could not do this, then he should not suffer himself to be deluded, and his kingdom ruined, by their counsels.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
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
13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַיָּם֙ | ʾaiyam | where [are]? they | H335 → | 39 times |
| אֵפ֣וֹא | ʾefo' | then | H645 → | |
| חֲכָמֶ֔יךָ | chakhameikha | wise [people] your | H2450 → | 138 times |
| וְיַגִּ֥ידוּ | veyagidu | so they may tell | H5046 → | 370 times |
| נָ֖א | na' | please | H4994 → | 404 times |
| לָ֑ךְ | lakh | to you | ||
| וְיֵ֣דְע֔וּ | veyedeu | so they may know | H3045 → | 945 times |
| מַה־ | mah- | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| יָּעַ֛ץ | yaatz | has he planned | H3289 → | 79 times |
| יְהוָ֥ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| צְבָא֖וֹת | tzevaot | of hosts | H6635 → | 485 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| מִצְרָֽיִם׃ | mitzrayim | Egypt | H4714 → | 641 times |
אַיָּם֙where [are]? they
ʾaiyamH335 →39 times
אֵפ֣וֹאthen
ʾefo'H645 →
חֲכָמֶ֔יךָwise [people] your
chakhameikhaH2450 →138 times
וְיַגִּ֥ידוּso they may tell
veyagiduH5046 →370 times
נָ֖אplease
na'H4994 →404 times
לָ֑ךְto you
lakh
וְיֵ֣דְע֔וּso they may know
veyedeuH3045 →945 times
מַה־what?
mah-H4100 →752 times
יָּעַ֛ץhas he planned
yaatzH3289 →79 times
יְהוָ֥הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
צְבָא֖וֹתof hosts
tzevaotH6635 →485 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
מִצְרָֽיִם׃Egypt
mitzrayimH4714 →641 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
1 Corinthians 1:20Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
it leads to
- Romans 1:22
Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,
- Job 12:17
He leads counselors away barefoot and makes fools of judges.
- 1 Corinthians 3:19
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.”
- 1 Corinthians 1:19
For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
- Romans 1:22
Through
Jeremiah 2:28But where are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them rise up in your time of trouble and save you if they can; for your gods are as numerous as your cities, O…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 32:37
He will say: “Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge,
- Jeremiah 11:13
Your gods are indeed as numerous as your cities, O Judah; the altars of shame you have set up—the altars to burn incense to Baal—are as many as the streets of Jerusalem.’
- Isaiah 45:20
Come, gather together, and draw near, you fugitives from the nations. Ignorant are those who carry idols of wood and pray to a god that cannot save.
- Judges 10:14
Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you in your time of trouble.”
- Deuteronomy 32:37
Where this verse is studied
About Isaiah
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Joseph Addison Alexander, Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.