Isaiah 19:22
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And the LORD will strike Egypt with a plague; He will strike them but heal them. They will turn to the LORD, and He will hear their prayers and heal them.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
As Assyria was a breaking rod to Judah, with which it was smitten, so Egypt was a broken reed, with which it was cheated; and therefore God had a quarrel with them both. We have before read the doom of the Assyrians; now here we have the burden of Egypt, a prophecy concerning that nation, I. That it should be greatly weakened and brought low, and should be as contemptible among the nations as now it was considerable, rendered so by a complication of judgments which God would bring upon them (v. 1-17). II. 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 (Isa 19:18-25), which would abundantly balance all the calamities here threatened.
Open source ↗19:22 strike Egypt: The Hebrew verb used here is the same as the one used for the tenth plague (Exod 12:13, 23, 27), bringing up associations of what God did during the Exodus. • The Lord, who brings a plague, can also bring healing. • he will listen to their pleas and heal them: This expresses a covenantal relationship between the Lord and Egypt (see Isa 65:24).
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
Other passages the community most often connects to this one. Tap to read.
See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand.
No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who have been trained by it.
Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled by your iniquity.
Then I will return to My place until they admit their guilt and seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”
For He wounds, but He also binds; He strikes, but His hands also heal.
This is what the LORD says: “The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, along with the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you and will be yours; they will trudge behind you; they will come over in chains and bow down to you. They will confess to you: ‘God is indeed with you, and there is no other; there is no other God.’”
Let the wicked man forsake his own way and the unrighteous man his own thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.
After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His presence.
Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”