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Selected Verse: Isaiah 19:11 - Strong Concordance
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Isa 19:11 |
Strong Concordance |
Surely the princes [08269] of Zoan [06814] are fools [0191], the counsel [06098] of the wise [02450] counsellors [03289] of Pharaoh [06547] is become brutish [01197]: how say [0559] ye unto Pharaoh [06547], I am the son [01121] of the wise [02450], the son [01121] of ancient [06924] kings [04428]? |
| |
King James |
Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
Zoan--The Greeks called it Tanis, a city of Lower Egypt, east of the Tanitic arms of the Nile, now San; it was one the Egyptian towns nearest to Palestine (Num 13:22), the scene of Moses' miracles (Psa 78:12, Psa 78:43). It, or else Memphis, was the capital under Sethos.
I am . . . son of the wise . . . kings--Ye have no advice to suggest to Pharaoh in the crisis, notwithstanding that ye boast of descent from wise and royal ancestors. The priests were the usual "counsellors" of the Egyptian king. He was generally chosen from the priestly caste, or, if from the warrior caste, he was admitted into the sacred order, and was called a priest. The priests are, therefore, meant by the expression, "son of the wise, and of ancient kings"; this was their favorite boast (HERODOTUS, 2.141; compare Amo 7:14; Act 23:6; Phi 3:5). "Pharaoh" was the common name of all the kings: Sethos, probably, is here meant. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Surely the princes - The following verses, to Isa 19:16, are designed to describe further the calamities that were coming upon Egypt by a want of wisdom in their rulers. They would be unable to devise means to meet the impending calamities, and would actually increase the national misery by their unwise counsels. The word 'princes' here is taken evidently for the rulers or counselors of state.
Of Zoan - The Vulgate, Septuagint, and Chaldee, render this 'Tanis.' Zoan was doubtless the Tans of the Greeks (Herod. ii. 166), and was a city of Lower Egypt, built, according to Moses Num 13:22, seven years after Hebron. It is mentioned in Psa 78:12; Isa 19:11, Isa 19:13; Isa 30:4; Eze 30:14. It was at the entrance of the Tanitic mouth of the Nile, and gave name to it. Its ruins still exist, and there are seen there at present numerous blocks of granite, seven obelisks of granite, and a statue of Isis. It was the capital of the dynasty of the Tanitish kings until the time of Psammetichus; it was at this place principally that the miracles done by Moses were performed. 'Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt; in the field of Zoan' Psa 78:12. Its ruins are still called "San," a slight change of the word Zoan. The Ostium Taniticum is now the "Omm Faredje."
Are fools - They are unable to meet by their counsels the impending calamities. Perhaps their folly was evinced by their flattering their sovereign, and by exciting him to plans that tended to the ruin, rather than the welfare of the kingdom.
The wise counselors of Pharaoh - Pharaoh was the common name of the kings of Egypt in the same way as "Caesar" became afterward the common name of the Roman emperors - and the king who is here intended by Pharaoh is probably Psammetichus (see the note at Isa 19:4).
How say ye ... - Why do you "flatter" the monarch? Why remind him of his ancestry? Why attempt to inflate him with the conception of his own wisdom? This was, and is, the common practice of courtiers; and in this way kings are often led to measures most ruinous to their subjects. |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
The prophet now dwells upon the punishment which falls upon the pillars of the land, and describes it in Isa 19:11-13 : "The princes of Zoan become mere fools, the wise counsellors of Pharaoh; readiness in counsel is stupefied. How can ye say to Pharaoh, I am a son of wise men, a son of kings of the olden time? Where are they then, thy wise men? Let them announce to thee, and know what Jehovah of hosts hath determined concerning Egypt. The princes of Zoan have become fools, the princes of Memphis are deceived; and they have led Egypt astray who are the corner-stone of its castes." The two constructives יעצי חכמי do not stand in a subordinate relation, but in a co-ordinate one (see at Psa 78:9 and Job 20:17; compare also Kg2 17:13, Keri), viz., "the wise men, counsellors of Pharaoh,"
(Note: Pharaoh does not mean "the king" (equivalent to the Coptic π-ουρο), but according to Brugsch, "great house" (Upper Egyptian perâa, Lower Egyptian pher-âo; vid., aus dem Orient, i. 36). Lauth refers in confirmation of this to Horapollo, i. 62, ὄφις καὶ οἶκος μέγας ἐν μέσω αὐτοῦ σημαίνει βασιλέα, and explains this Coptic name for a king from that of the Οὐραῖος (βασιλίσκος) upon the head of the king, which was a specifically regal sign.)
so that the second noun is the explanatory permutative of the first. Zoan is the Tanis of primeval times (Num 13:22), which was situated on one of the arms through which the Nile flows into the sea (viz., the ostium Taniticum), and was the home from which two dynasties sprang. Noph (per aphaer. = Menoph, contracted into Moph in Hos 9:6) is Memphis, probably the seat of the Pharaohs in the time of Joseph, and raised by Psammetichus into the metropolis of the whole kingdom. The village of Mitrahenni still stands upon its ruins, with the Serapeum to the north-west.
(Note: What the lexicons say with reference to Zoan and Noph needs rectifying. Zoan (old Egyptian Zane, with the hieroglyphic of striding legs, Copt. 'Gane) points back to the radical idea of pelli or fugere; and according to the latest researches, to which the Turin papyrus No. 112 has led, it is the same as Αὔαρις (Ἄβαρις), which is said to mean the house of flight (Ha-uare), and was the seat of government under the Hykshōs. But Memphis is not equivalent to Ma-m-ptah, as Champollion assumed (although this city is unquestionably sometimes called Ha-ka-ptah, house of the essential being of Ptah); it is rather equivalent to Men-nefer (with the hieroglyphic of the pyramids), place of the good (see Brugsch, Histoire d'Egypte, i. 17). In the later language it is called pa-nuf or ma-nuf, which has the same meaning (Copt. nufi, good). Hence Moph is the contraction of the name commencing with ma, and Noph the abbreviation of the name commencing with ma or pa by the rejection of the local prefix; for we cannot for a moment think of Nup, which is the second district of Upper Egypt (Brugsch, Geogr. i. 66). Noph is undoubtedly Memphis.)
Consequently princes of Zoan and Memphis are princes of the chief cities of the land, and of the supposed primeval pedigree; probably priest-princes, since the wisdom of the Egyptian priest was of world-wide renown (Herod. ii. 77, 260), and the oldest kings of Egypt sprang from the priestly caste. Even in the time of Hezekiah, when the military caste had long become the ruling one, the priests once more succeeded in raising one of their own number, namely Sethos, to the throne of Sais. These magnates of Egypt, with their wisdom, would be turned into fools by the history of Egypt of the immediate future; and (this is the meaning of the sarcastic "how can ye say") they would no longer trust themselves to boast of their hereditary priestly wisdom, or their royal descent, when giving counsel to Pharaoh. They were the corner-stone of the shebâtim, i.e., of the castes of Egypt (not of the districts or provinces, νομοί); but instead of supporting and defending their people, it is now very evident that they only led them astray. התעוּ, as the Masora on Isa 19:15 observes, has no Vav cop. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Zoan - The chief city, in which the king and court frequently resided. How - Why do you put such foolish words into Pharaoh's mouth? I am the son - Wisdom is heredity and natural to me. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| The counsel of the wise counselors of Pharaoh is become brutish "Have counseled a brutish counsel" - The sentence as it now stands in the Hebrew, is imperfect: it wants the verb. Archbishop Secker conjectures that the words יועצי פרעה yoatsey pharoh should be transposed; which would in some degree remove the difficulty. But it is to be observed, that the translator of the Vulgate seems to have found in his copy the verb יעצו yaatsu added after פרעה pharoh: Sapientes consiliarii Pharaonis dederunt consilium insipiens, "The wise counsellors of Pharaoh gave unwise counsel." This is probably the true reading: it is perfectly agreeable to the Hebrew idiom, makes the construction of the sentence clear, and renders the transposition of the words above mentioned unnecessary. - L. |
5 Circumcised [4061] the eighth [3637] day, of [1537] the stock [1085] of Israel [2474], of the tribe [5443] of Benjamin [958], an Hebrew [1445] of [1537] the Hebrews [1445]; as touching [2596] the law [3551], a Pharisee [5330];
6 But [1161] when Paul [3972] perceived [1097] that [3754] the one [1520] part [3313] were [2076] Sadducees [4523], and [1161] the other [2087] Pharisees [5330], he cried out [2896] in [1722] the council [4892], Men [435] and brethren [80], I [1473] am [1510] a Pharisee [5330], the son [5207] of a Pharisee [5330]: of [4012] the hope [1680] and [2532] resurrection [386] of the dead [3498] I [1473] am called in question [2919].
14 Then answered [06030] Amos [05986], and said [0559] to Amaziah [0558], I was no prophet [05030], neither was I a prophet's [05030] son [01121]; but I was an herdman [0951], and a gatherer [01103] of sycomore fruit [08256]:
43 How he had wrought [07760] his signs [0226] in Egypt [04714], and his wonders [04159] in the field [07704] of Zoan [06814]:
12 Marvellous things [06382] did [06213] he in the sight [05048] of their fathers [01], in the land [0776] of Egypt [04714], in the field [07704] of Zoan [06814].
22 And they ascended [05927] by the south [05045], and came [0935] unto Hebron [02275]; where Ahiman [0289], Sheshai [08344], and Talmai [08526], the children [03211] of Anak [06061], were. (Now Hebron [02275] was built [01129] seven [07651] years [08141] before [06440] Zoan [06814] in Egypt [04714].)
4 And [0853] the Egyptians [04714] will I give over [05534] into the hand [03027] of a cruel [07186] lord [0113]; and a fierce [05794] king [04428] shall rule [04910] over them, saith [05002] the Lord [0113], the LORD [03068] of hosts [06635].
12 Marvellous things [06382] did [06213] he in the sight [05048] of their fathers [01], in the land [0776] of Egypt [04714], in the field [07704] of Zoan [06814].
14 And I will make Pathros [06624] desolate [08074], and will set [05414] fire [0784] in Zoan [06814], and will execute [06213] judgments [08201] in No [04996].
4 For his princes [08269] were at Zoan [06814], and his ambassadors [04397] came [05060] to Hanes [02609].
13 The princes [08269] of Zoan [06814] are become fools [02973], the princes [08269] of Noph [05297] are deceived [05377]; they have also seduced [08582] Egypt [04714], even they that are the stay [06438] of the tribes [07626] thereof.
11 Surely the princes [08269] of Zoan [06814] are fools [0191], the counsel [06098] of the wise [02450] counsellors [03289] of Pharaoh [06547] is become brutish [01197]: how say [0559] ye unto Pharaoh [06547], I am the son [01121] of the wise [02450], the son [01121] of ancient [06924] kings [04428]?
12 Marvellous things [06382] did [06213] he in the sight [05048] of their fathers [01], in the land [0776] of Egypt [04714], in the field [07704] of Zoan [06814].
22 And they ascended [05927] by the south [05045], and came [0935] unto Hebron [02275]; where Ahiman [0289], Sheshai [08344], and Talmai [08526], the children [03211] of Anak [06061], were. (Now Hebron [02275] was built [01129] seven [07651] years [08141] before [06440] Zoan [06814] in Egypt [04714].)
16 In that day [03117] shall Egypt [04714] be like unto women [0802]: and it shall be afraid [02729] and fear [06342] because [06440] of the shaking [08573] of the hand [03027] of the LORD [03068] of hosts [06635], which he shaketh [05130] over it.
15 Neither shall there be any work [04639] for Egypt [04714], which the head [07218] or tail [02180], branch [03712] or rush [0100], may do [06213].
6 For, lo, they are gone [01980] because of destruction [07701]: Egypt [04714] shall gather them up [06908], Memphis [04644] shall bury [06912] them: the pleasant [04261] places for their silver [03701], nettles [07057] shall possess [03423] them: thorns [02336] shall be in their tabernacles [0168].
22 And they ascended [05927] by the south [05045], and came [0935] unto Hebron [02275]; where Ahiman [0289], Sheshai [08344], and Talmai [08526], the children [03211] of Anak [06061], were. (Now Hebron [02275] was built [01129] seven [07651] years [08141] before [06440] Zoan [06814] in Egypt [04714].)
13 Yet the LORD [03068] testified [05749] against Israel [03478], and against Judah [03063], by [03027] all the prophets [05030], and by all the seers [02374], saying [0559], Turn [07725] ye from your evil [07451] ways [01870], and keep [08104] my commandments [04687] and my statutes [02708], according to all the law [08451] which I commanded [06680] your fathers [01], and which I sent [07971] to you by [03027] my servants [05650] the prophets [05030].
17 He shall not see [07200] the rivers [06390], the floods [05104], the brooks [05158] of honey [01706] and butter [02529].
9 The children [01121] of Ephraim [0669], being armed [05401], and carrying [07411] bows [07198], turned back [02015] in the day [03117] of battle [07128].
11 Surely the princes [08269] of Zoan [06814] are fools [0191], the counsel [06098] of the wise [02450] counsellors [03289] of Pharaoh [06547] is become brutish [01197]: how say [0559] ye unto Pharaoh [06547], I am the son [01121] of the wise [02450], the son [01121] of ancient [06924] kings [04428]?
12 Where [0335] are they? where [0645] are thy wise [02450] men? and let them tell [05046] thee now, and let them know [03045] what the LORD [03068] of hosts [06635] hath purposed [03289] upon Egypt [04714].
13 The princes [08269] of Zoan [06814] are become fools [02973], the princes [08269] of Noph [05297] are deceived [05377]; they have also seduced [08582] Egypt [04714], even they that are the stay [06438] of the tribes [07626] thereof.