Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
And they shall turn the rivers far away - ( ּּ he'eze nı̂ychû ), probably from zânach , "to have an offensive smell; to be rancid, or putrid." The word in this form occurs nowhere else. It is in the Hiphil conjugation, and is probably a form made from a mixture with the Chaldee. The sense is not doubtful. It means ' the rivers shall become putrid - or have an offensive smell;' that is, shall become stagnant, and send forth unwholesome "miasmata" producing sickness, as stagnant waters often do. The Vulgate renders it, ' And the rivers shall fail.' The Septuagint, ' And the Egyptians shall drink the waters from the sea, but the river shall fail, and be dried up, and the rivers shall fail, and the streams ( ̀ diōruches ) of the river, and all the assembling ( ́ sunagōgē ) waters shall be dried up.'
And the brooks of defense - Hebrew, ' The rivers of mâtsôr . The word mâtsôr often means "straitness, affliction;" then a siege, a wall, a bulwark, a fortification. But, probably, it here means "Egypt," or the same as mı̂tse rayı̂m (compare Isaiah 37:25; II Kings 18:24; Mark 7:12). Perhaps the Hebrews may have thought of Egypt as a strongly fortified place, and thus have given the name to it; or possibly this may have been a modification of the name "Mitsraim."
The reeds and flags - Which grew on the banks of the Nile - the papyrus, etc. (see the note at Isaiah 18:2)
Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Isaiah 19:6:
Genesis 10:6-20
Psalms 43:2
Isaiah 7:18
Isaiah 19:1
Isaiah 19:18
Isaiah 19:22
Isaiah 37:25
Isaiah 37:25
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