display Thy strength, O God.

Who hast so mightily prevailed for us.

There kings must offer Thee tribute.

Check that Brute of a Nile -power,

the bullocks and steers of pagans;

Trample down crafty policy,

rout all races that rejoice in war,

till Egypt sends ambassadors,

and Ethiopia hurries to submit to God'.

The sending of ambassadors suggests that Egypt will sue for peace (Isa.

30:4; 33:7), and when we consider Isaiah 19, 'the burden of Egypt', and the

remarkable words of its closing verses, the translation will become even more

suggestive.  The prophet Isaiah rebukes Israel for trusting in the shadow of

Egypt, and one passage, which is a warning, is often quoted with favour and

as a message of comfort, but this is a mistake.  The words are 'their

strength is to sit still' (Isa. 30:7), but the Revised Version reads

'therefore have I called her Rahab that sitteth still'.  The Companion Bible

'Heb.  Egypt -- sitting still (and thus not giving the help that was

being sought).

Rahab = pride, or strength, is put by Figure Metonymy (of Adjunct) for

Egypt, the proud or strong one.  Note the wrong but common use of this

verse, through not heeding the context'.

Moffatt's vigorous translation here is 'hence My name for it "Dragon -

do -Nothing"'.  After a desolation that lasts forty years, the Lord reveals

that He will gather the Egyptians and bring again the captivity of Egypt and

will cause them to return 'and they shall be there a base kingdom.  It shall

be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above

the nations' (Ezek. 29:13 -15).

Because the Hebrew word translated 'base' is sometimes translated

'humble', some commentators have thought that this word 'base' does not refer

to Egypt's degradation, but to a lowly submission, and where the Authorized

Version of Ezekiel 17:14 reads 'that the kingdom might be base', Moffatt

reads 'that the realm might be submissive and not ambitious'.  At first, the

words of Daniel 4:17 addressed to Nebuchadnezzar 'and setteth up over it the

basest of men' would appear to nullify this view, but it must not be

forgotten that at the end of Daniel 4 Nebuchadnezzar was extremely humbled

and acknowledged the sovereignty of the Most High.  While therefore this

possibility must be admitted, our knowledge is too limited for more than an

expression of the opinion that it may be so.  On the other hand the added

words 'neither shall it exalt itself any more' seems to look back to the

reduction of Egypt to 'a base kingdom'.

Another passage of prophetic interest is Isaiah 19, denominated 'the

burden of Egypt'.  After a series of prophetic utterances concerning the

judgments that shall fall upon Egypt, comes a most wonderful and unexpected

denouement (Isa. 19:23 -25), but before we ponder this most marvellous

manifestation of grace, let us note a few items that are of prophetic

importance.  The chapter opens with terms that appear to speak of the second

advent of Someone riding 'upon a swift cloud'; One Who 'shall come', and 'His

presence' be manifest.  The effect upon Egypt is that 'the heart of Egypt

shall melt'.  In the Burden of Babylon (Isa. 13) we have a similar