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Isaiah 19 · a question people ask

What is the altar in the land of Egypt for (19:19)?

In the text

The chapter answers from its own verses. "In that day, there will be an altar to the LORD in the middle of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD at its border" (19:19). "It will be for a sign and for a witness to the LORD of Armies in the land of Egypt" (19:20), and the same verse goes on: "for they will cry to the LORD because of oppressors, and he will send them a savior and a defender, and he will deliver them" (19:20), "The LORD will be known to Egypt" (19:21), and "they will worship with sacrifice and offering, and will vow a vow to the LORD, and will perform it" (19:21). The chapter doesn't say who builds the altar or when, and names no place for it but "the middle of the land of Egypt" (19:19). These notes read the verses as they stand, and don't say how or whether they have come to pass.

The verses

“In that day, there will be an altar to the LORD in the middle of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD at its border. It will be for a sign and for a witness to the LORD of Armies in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the LORD because of oppressors, and he will send them a savior and a defender, and he will deliver them. The LORD will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day. Yes, they will worship with sacrifice and offering, and will vow a vow to the LORD, and will perform it.”
Isaiah 19:19-21 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Isaiah 19

Isaiah 19: The burden of Egypt

Isaiah 19 has words that Exodus has in Egypt's story. Egypt cries to the LORD "because of oppressors" (19:20), with the verb of Exodus 3:9, and he sends them a savior; "The LORD will strike Egypt, striking and healing" (19:22), with the verb Exodus has at the Passover. And he calls Egypt by a name Isaiah elsewhere gives his own people: "Egypt my people" (19:25).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions