Isaiah 19:14
The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit. The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.
Isaiah 19:14 belongs to the prophecy of Isaiah 19 concerning Egypt, which describes its revolutions and national condition and has already been fulfilled in part. The Lord mingled a perverse spirit in the midst of Egypt and allowed the land to be overcome by it, so that its leaders caused the nation to err and fall into confusion in every work and undertaking. The erring is like that of a drunken person staggering unsteadily in his own vomit, a vivid picture of reeling in a filthy, intoxicated condition.
The prophecy foretells the humiliation of Egypt: though ancient, powerful and defensible, it would be invaded, conquered and spoiled, fall into the hand of strangers permanently, become the basest of the kingdoms and no longer rule over nations, lose its native princes, and renounce idolatry. That downfall was fulfilled over more than twenty-four centuries through conquest by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon followed by successive subjection to Persians, Macedonians, Romans, Saracens, Mamelukes and Turks, leaving Egypt in perpetual foreign servitude without a middle class and in poverty and ignorance. The chapter was already fulfilled in part, including fulfillment in the preaching of the gospel in Egypt and Assyria in New Testament times.
The verse was accomplished centuries ago and has nothing to be fulfilled in modern times. It shows the principle that a nation handed over to a perverse spirit is led into error in its actions, and this applies to the United States: after displacing the Lord's Sabbath with Sunday in 1892, the nation repeatedly took the wrong course in times of crisis and that perverse influence appeared in its decisions.