Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you now; and let them know what Yahweh of Armies has purposed concerning Egypt.
Parallel Translations
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Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you now; and let them know what Yahweh of Armies has purposed concerning Egypt.
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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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Where are they, then, thy wise men? And let them tell thee now; and let them know what the LORD of hosts hath purposed concerning Egypt.
Cross-references (12)
Passages linked to Isaiah 19:12 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Corinthians 1:20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the lawyer of this world? Hasn’t God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
- Judges 9:38 Then Zebul said to him, “Now where is your mouth, that you said, ‘Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him?’ Isn’t this the people that you have despised? Please go out now and fight with them.”
- Job 11:6-7 that he would show you the secrets of wisdom! For true wisdom has two sides. Know therefore that God exacts of you less than your iniquity deserves. “Can you fathom the mystery of God? Or can you probe the limits of the Almighty?
- Isaiah 5:21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
- Isaiah 14:24 Yahweh of Armies has sworn, saying, “Surely, as I have thought, so shall it happen; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:
- Isaiah 40:13-14 Who has directed Yahweh’s Spirit, or has taught him as his counselor? Who did he take counsel with, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?
- Isaiah 41:22-23 “Let them announce and declare to us what will happen! Declare the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or show us things to come. Declare the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods. Yes, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and see it together.
- Isaiah 44:7 Who is like me? Who will call, and will declare it, and set it in order for me, since I established the ancient people? Let them declare the things that are coming, and that will happen.
- Isaiah 47:10-13 For you have trusted in your wickedness. You have said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and your knowledge has perverted you. You have said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.’ Therefore disaster will come on you. You won’t know when it dawns. Mischief will fall on you. You won’t be able to put it away. Desolation will come on you suddenly, which you don’t understand. “Stand now with your enchantments and with the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth, as if you might profit, as if you might prevail. You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels. Now let the astrologers, the stargazers, and the monthly prognosticators, stand up and save you from the things that will happen to you.
- Jeremiah 2:28 “But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble; for you have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah.
- Romans 9:17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I caused you to be raised up, that I might show in you my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
- Romans 11:33-34 Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out! “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (9 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 19:12 Where [are] they? where [are] thy wise…
Isa 19:12 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.
Ver. 12. Where are they? where are thy wise men?] q.d., Vile latens virtus: if they have that wisdom they pretend to, let them predict thy calamities and help to prevent them. Mihi hominun prudentia similis videtur talparum labori non sine dexteritate sub terra fodientium, sed ad lumen solis caecutientium, {a} The world’s wizards are like children, always standing on their heads and shaking their heels against heaven.
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{a} Gasp. Ens.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Thy wise men; who pretended that either by their…
Thy wise men; who pretended that either by their deep policy, or by their skill in astrology or magic, they could certainly foresee things to come.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Where are they? where are thy wise men?.... The…
Where are they? where are thy wise men?.... The magicians and soothsayers, the diviners and astrologers, who pretended, by their magic art and skill in judicial astrology, to foretell things to come: this is an address to the king of Egypt, who had such persons about him, and encouraged them, by consulting them on occasion, and rewarding them:
and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the Lord of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt; or, "against it"; let them tell, if they can, and make known unto thee the purposes of God's heart, the things he has resolved upon, even the calamities and punishments he will shortly inflict upon the Egyptians, of which he has given notice by his prophets.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 12. "Let them come"] Here too a word…
Verse 12. "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.
Let them tell thee now - "And let them declare"] For ידעו yidu, let them know, perhaps we ought to read יודיעו yodiu, let them make known. - Secker. The Septuagint and Vulgate favour this reading, ειπατωισαν, let them declare.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Where are they? - This whole verse is an…
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.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain let them know--that is, How is it that, with…
let them know--that is, How is it that, with all their boast of knowing the future [DIODORUS, 1.81], they do not know what Jehovah of hosts . . .
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 12. The Pharaoh is now addressed in turn. Where…
12. The Pharaoh is now addressed in turn. Where are they, pray, thy wise men? In face of this problem they are nowhere; they cannot “know,” far less “tell,” the purpose of Jehovah towards Egypt.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Where are they? where, etc.? rather, Where, then, are…
Where are they? where, etc.? rather, Where, then, are thy wise men? If thou hast any, let them come forward anti predict the coming course of events, what Jehovah has determined to do. (compare similar challenges in the later chapters of the book, Isa_41:21-23 Isa_43:9 Isa_48:14, etc.)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 19:12 Where are your wise counselors: Cp. 1 Cor…
19:12 Where are your wise counselors: Cp. 1 Cor 1:20.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.