And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish.
Isaiah 19:10 concerns Egypt and belongs to the prophecy of judgment upon Egypt. As part of Egypt's humiliation, it means that the purposes of those who depend on its industries, waterworks, fisheries, canals, sluices and fishponds will be broken and frustrated when its waters dry up. That loss of water threatens Egypt's ability to remain habitable.
The verse belongs to Isaiah 19:1-13, which means Egypt would be subjected by the Macedonians under Alexander the Great. Together with the rest of Isaiah 19, it means that Egypt, though once ancient and powerful and defended by sea, desert, navy and the Nile, would be invaded, conquered and spoiled, fall into the hand of strangers forever, become the basest of kingdoms, no more rule over nations, have no more a native prince, renounce idolatry, and see its rivers dry up. The chapter's prophecy has already been fulfilled in large part over more than twenty-four centuries, when Egypt was invaded and subdued by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, then subjected by the Persians under Cambyses, then by Alexander, then ruled nearly three centuries by the Ptolemies, then about thirty years before the Christian era brought under Rome, then successively ruled by Saracens, Mamelukes and Turks. It was deprived of its natural proprietors and condemned to perpetual servitude under strangers and slaves, with methodical oppression, no middle class, poverty, vermin and disease, with idols cut off, with forty dry watercourses crossed in a day's travel in the Delta, and with wretched peasantry laboring for five cents a day. The verse also concerns Egypt in connection with the preaching of the Gospel in Egypt and Assyria in New Testament times.
Isaiah 19:10 concerns Egypt and belongs to the prophecy of judgment upon Egypt. As part of Egypt's humiliation, it means that the purposes of those who depend on its industries, waterworks, fisheries, canals, sluices and fishponds will be broken and frustrated when its waters dry up. That loss of water threatens Egypt's ability to remain habitable.
The verse belongs to Isaiah 19:1-13, which means Egypt would be subjected by the Macedonians under Alexander the Great. Together with the rest of Isaiah 19, it means that Egypt, though once ancient and powerful and defended by sea, desert, navy and the Nile, would be invaded, conquered and spoiled, fall into the hand of strangers forever, become the basest of kingdoms, no more rule over nations, have no more a native prince, renounce idolatry, and see its rivers dry up. The chapter's prophecy has already been fulfilled in large part over more than twenty-four centuries, when Egypt was invaded and subdued by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, then subjected by the Persians under Cambyses, then by Alexander, then ruled nearly three centuries by the Ptolemies, then about thirty years before the Christian era brought under Rome, then successively ruled by Saracens, Mamelukes and Turks. It was deprived of its natural proprietors and condemned to perpetual servitude under strangers and slaves, with methodical oppression, no middle class, poverty, vermin and disease, with idols cut off, with forty dry watercourses crossed in a day's travel in the Delta, and with wretched peasantry laboring for five cents a day. The verse also concerns Egypt in connection with the preaching of the Gospel in Egypt and Assyria in New Testament times.