Introduction
We continue with the "Burden of Egypt," the prophecy of retribution and comfort that Yeshayahu proclaims concerning Egypt. In the section before us, the prophet turns to Egypt's wise men and princes, demonstrating how it was precisely they who led the nation astray. Afterward, he describes the terror and dread that will seize Egypt, and finally the reverse process - Egypt's recognition of Hashem and their repentance before Him. We will proceed verse by verse according to the commentary of the Malbim.
"Where Are They Now, Where Are Your Sages?" - Two Questions in One Verse
אַיָּם אֵפוֹא חֲכָמֶיךָ וְיַגִּידוּ נָא לָךְ וְיֵדְעוּ מַה יָּעַץ ה' צְבָאוֹת עַל מִצְרָיִם׃ - Where are they now, where are your wise men? Let them tell you now, and let them know what Hashem, Master of Legions, has planned against Egypt.
The prophet asks Pharaoh: Where are your wise men? Why have they not discerned the counsel of Hashem? The Malbim notes a precise distinction between ayeih and eifo, even though both seemingly ask "where." Ayeih is said of something known to be nearby, where one is merely asking for the exact spot: "Where (ayeih) is Sarah your wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent" - she is here, I am only asking where precisely. Similarly, "Where (ayeih) is the harlot who was at Einayim?" - she is presumed to be in this area, we met her here, the question is just where exactly. By contrast, eifo is said of something distant, with many possible locations: ei poh - where is the place that can be designated as "here"? As in, "Tell me, please, where (eifoh) they are pasturing," and "Where (eifoh) did you glean today?"
According to this, the Malbim explains, two questions are intertwined here: "Where (ayeih) are your wise men, that they may tell you" - if the wise men are right there with you, in your immediate vicinity, just search for their exact location, and let them tell you what the Holy One, Blessed be He, is planning for you and what decrees are about to fall upon you. And furthermore: "Where (eifo) are your wise men, that they may know what Hashem has planned" - and if they are not here, but scattered somewhere across the world, is there any wise man anywhere on earth who could possibly know what Hashem has planned? The answer is that you have no one, neither here nor anywhere else, neither ayeih nor eifo, who knows what Hashem decrees upon Egypt.
"The Princes of Tzoan Have Become Fools" - The Prominent Ones Were the Ones Who Misled
נוֹאֲלוּ שָׂרֵי צֹעַן נִשְּׁאוּ שָׂרֵי נֹף הִתְעוּ אֶת מִצְרַיִם פִּנַּת שְׁבָטֶיהָ׃ - The princes of Tzoan have become fools; the princes of Noph are deceived; the cornerstones of its tribes have led Egypt astray.
The princes of Tzoan were supposed to guide the nation, but they themselves "have become fools" (no'alu). And through them, "the princes of Noph are deceived" (nishe'u) - the subordinate ministers, who were persuaded to trust that nothing would happen, that there was nothing to fear and nothing to worry about. And who led Egypt astray? "The cornerstones (pinat) of its tribes" - its most prominent leaders. The term "corner" (pinah) always denotes people of high stature, as in "and all the cornerstones of the people presented themselves," and "the corners of the hosts of the exalted of the Almighty." Similarly, the primary towers are called corners, since in a walled city the most important watchtowers were built at the corners of the wall; hence "the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone" - the stone placed at the head of the chief tower. Thus, it was precisely the most distinguished figures of Egypt who misled it, assuring them: you have nothing to fear, no trouble or disaster will come, there is nothing to dread from Hashem.
Three Types of Persuasion: Hasha'ah, Hasatah, and Pituy
From the expression "the princes of Noph are deceived" (nishe'u), the Malbim distinguishes between three similar terms. Lehashi (to beguile) means to remove a person's fear: "The serpent beguiled me (hishi'ani) and I ate" - it told her, "You will not surely die," there is nothing to fear. Similarly, "The pride of your heart has deceived you (hishi'akha)" - "Who can bring me down to earth?", you have nothing to dread. And likewise, "He has greatly deceived (hashei yashi) this people... saying: You shall have peace." Lehasit (to entice or incite) is the opposite: not the removal of fear, but presenting benefit and profit. "She incited him (vatesitehu) to ask of her father a field" - there is gain and an estate in the field. "And he incited him (vayesitehu) to go up to Ramot Gilead" - "Ramot Gilead is ours and we sit idle," it is rightfully ours and we will gain by capturing it. And similarly, "If your brother, the son of your mother, entices you (yesitekha) in secret, saying: Let us go and serve other gods" - it is worth your while, this deity brings good and influence. Lefatot (to seduce or persuade) is persuasion through words, sweet-talking and confusing a person until he does the deed, and he heeds them because he is simple (peti): "Like a silly (fotah) dove without heart" - like a naive dove with no sense, led around until it enters the net. And similarly, "If a man seduces (yefateh) a virgin" - neither removing fear nor offering profit, but persuasion through mere words.
According to this: the princes of Tzoan "deceived" (nishe'u) the princes of Noph - they reassured them and told them that they had nothing to fear from the impending doom destined for them, and through this reassurance, they enticed them into sin, to rebel against Hashem.
Hashem Has Blended within Her a Spirit of Perversity
ה' מָסַךְ בְּקִרְבָּהּ רוּחַ עִוְעִים וְהִתְעוּ אֶת מִצְרַיִם בְּכָל מַעֲשֵׂהוּ כְּהִתָּעוֹת שִׁכּוֹר בְּקִיאוֹ׃ - Hashem has blended within her a spirit of perversity, and they have led Egypt astray in all its doings, as a drunkard staggers in his vomit.
The prophet says: Know that everything was truly from Hashem. Masach means blended or mixed, just as wine is diluted and mixed with water. The Malbim notes that the letters samech and zayin, as well as chaf and gimel, are interchangeable, so masach is related to mezeg (mixing). In Lashon HaKodesh, blending (meziga) does not mean simply pouring liquid into a cup as in modern Hebrew (where one says "pour me a cup of juice" - which in biblical Hebrew would be expressed as areh li kos), but rather mixing: wine was strong, so water was added to it - that is meziga. Similarly, someone drinking coffee asks for milk to be blended into it. Thus, the Holy One, blessed be He, blended a spirit of confusion within her; just as water is mixed into wine to make it pleasant to drink, so too, as it were, did the Holy One, blessed be He, make the soothing reassurances palatable to them, until they were thoroughly convinced they had nothing to fear.
And what is a ru'ach iv'im (a spirit of perversity)? The Malbim points out that this is a unique expression found nowhere else in Tanach. In his view, its root denotes distortion, scrambling, and madness of the mind, as in the phrase "Avah, avah, avah asimenah" ("A ruin, a ruin, a ruin I will make it") in Yechezkel. The rule is that the doubling of a root indicates an intensification or repetition of the action: patz means shattered, while potzetz means shattered again and again; likewise sho'ah from shav. Thus, iv'im indicates madness and confusion that repeats itself again and again.
Egypt drank from this deceitful wine and became intoxicated, following the words of the princes of Tzoan and the leaders of its tribes, believing it had nothing to fear from the hand of Hashem. This is the meaning of "as a drunkard staggers in his vomit": the drunkard errs after vomiting, returning to drink his vomit because he imagines it to be wine. This mirrors the familiar phrase, "like a dog returning to its vomit" - a dog vomits and then returns to lick it up. This is a known phenomenon, even if modern dogs might seem more delicate. Just as a drunkard, whose senses are incapacitated, is capable of doing something utterly contrary to human nature by drinking his vomit as if it were wine, so too was Egypt misled into doing something completely contrary to logic. A prophecy stands against you - how can you listen to the ministers of Tzoan who claim nothing will happen? There is no explanation other than that their actions became divorced from all reason, leaving them capable of bringing harm upon themselves knowingly and by their own choice.
Head and Tail, Palm Branch and Reed
וְלֹא יִהְיֶה לְמִצְרַיִם מַעֲשֶׂה אֲשֶׁר יַעֲשֶׂה רֹאשׁ וְזָנָב כִּפָּה וְאַגְמוֹן׃ - And there will not be for Egypt any deed that head or tail, branch or reed, can accomplish.
Because of that spirit of confusion, Egypt will have no action left that can be effective or save it, neither from the great nor from the lowly. Even if a "branch" - one of the warriors or the wealthy - should arise seeking to bring general benefit to save the nation, and even if a "reed" - a local leader from among the common folk - should step forward, all will drop their hands and be unable to save. For Hashem has blended within her a spirit of confusion, and when the Holy One, blessed be He, mixes a spirit of madness and bewilderment within her, neither head nor tail, neither palm branch nor reed, neither great nor prominent person will be able to help Egypt.
Rashi interprets "head and tail, branch and reed" as referring to the necromancers and astrologers who gaze at the stars, for there are constellations and stars in the heavens called by these terms - head and tail, branch and reed - shaped like a head and a tail, positioned in the celestial dragon (Teli; some texts read: in Aries, Taleh). Rashi also brings an alternative explanation, corresponding to the one we explained, that this refers to the leaders of the government and the itronin, an Aramaic term denoting men of prominence.
"And It Shall Tremble and Fear" - The Difference Between Charadah and Pachad
בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יִהְיֶה מִצְרַיִם כַּנָּשִׁים וְחָרַד וּפָחַד מִפְּנֵי תְּנוּפַת יַד ה' צְבָאוֹת אֲשֶׁר הוּא מֵנִיף עָלָיו׃ - On that day, Egypt will be like women, and it will tremble and fear before the waving of the hand of Hashem of Hosts, which He waves over it.
"Egypt will be like women" - who tremble and become frightened by anything; a woman is startled in an instant, it does not take much. And what is the reason for the double phrasing, "and it will tremble and fear" (vecharad ufachad)? The Malbim explains that there is a distinction between them. Charadah (trembling/shock) is a sudden, momentary panic: "And Yitzchak trembled with an exceedingly great trembling" (Vayecherad Yitzchak charadah gedolah), "And the man trembled and turned" (Vayecherad ha'ish vayillafet). If dynamite explodes next to you, you were shaken with charadah, not pachad. Pachad (fear/dread), on the other hand, is an ongoing state: "And you will fear night and day" (Ufachadeta lailah veyomam), "Fortunate is the man who always fears" (Ashrei adam mefached tamid), "And you fear continually all the day." Another difference: charadah is generally caused by an immediate danger seen right before one's eyes - "And all the people who were in the camp trembled" (Vayecherad kol ha'am asher bamachaneh), "Ramah trembled" (Charedah HaRamah); whereas pachad is usually from something not right in front of a person, a future evil one does not yet see - "For the thing I feared has come upon me" (Pachad pachadeti vaye'etayeni), fearing something that had not yet occurred and eventually arrived. Moreover, pachad always stems from something one fears will cause harm, whereas charadah is not necessarily from something harmful, but rather a sudden shock or rapid stir, as in "and the elders of the city trembled at his coming" (Vayecherdu ziknei ha'ir likrato) and "and Achimelech trembled at meeting David" (Vayecherad Achimelech likrat David) - they heard someone was arriving, and they immediately jumped into a sudden rush to go out and greet him.
Now, the way of the world is that once a person sees what caused his panic, he calms down: he hears a rustling sound and is alarmed, but once he sees that it is merely a small cat, his mind is put at ease, and he is no longer terrified. So it is with fear: a person can fear something terrible for a long time simply because he does not know what it is, but when he finally sees it before his eyes, he says, "Is this what I was afraid of?" and from then on he is calmed. But with Egypt, this will not be so. They will be faint-hearted like women, to the point that even "the waving of the hand of the Lord" will be enough to undo them. The Malbim notes the distinction between raising a hand (harama) and waving a hand (hanafa): raising implies lifting high, whereas waving refers even to a slight motion. The Holy One, blessed be He, did not bring His hand down to strike, nor did He even lift it high, but merely waved it slightly - yet even that slight gesture will instill terror and dread within them. They will not say, "We saw it, it is merely a slight hint"; rather, this small sign will cause them continuous trembling and perpetual dread, like frightened, fearful women whose hearts are soft.
The Radak explains "on that day" as referring to the very time when the king of Assyria destroyed Egypt and Cush, and afterward returned to wage war against Chizkiyahu, where the Lord struck him down. That is to say: do not say that when you see his might and power there is reason to fear - on that very day they will be like women, on that day he will succeed, and on that day he will fall. The prophecy does not speak of distant times, but of that very hour when you are terrified by his power.
And the Land of Judah Shall Become a Terror to Egypt
וְהָיְתָה אַדְמַת יְהוּדָה לְמִצְרַיִם לְחָגָּא כֹּל אֲשֶׁר יַזְכִּיר אֹתָהּ אֵלָיו יִפְחָד מִפְּנֵי עֲצַת ה' צְבָאוֹת אֲשֶׁר הוּא יוֹעֵץ עָלָיו׃ - And the land of Judah shall become a terror to Egypt; whoever mentions it to them shall be afraid, because of the counsel of the Lord of Hosts which He devises against it.
The land of Judah, too, will become a source of dread to Egypt. Rashi explains "chaga" - and the Malbim and the Radak follow this as well - as denoting ruin, dread, and terror, akin to "they reeled (yachogu) and staggered like a drunken man, and all their wisdom was swallowed up," and akin to "the clefts (chagvei) of the rock." Judah will strike fear and dread into Egypt, to the extent that anyone who mentions its name will be seized with fright and say: this is an omen boding ill, surely the Lord is devising evil against me.
The Malbim explains this according to the ways of the Egyptians, who were renowned as magicians and soothsayers (me'onanim). "Me'onanim" are those who determine auspicious seasons (onot): this period is good for setting out on a journey and that one is not, begin on this day and do not begin on that one, conduct business here and at this time it will not succeed. The Torah forbade this: "You shall not practice divination, nor shall you practice soothsaying," but rather "You shall be wholehearted with the Lord your God" - trust in the Holy One, blessed be He, and walk with Him in wholehearted simplicity, and He will bestow upon you abundant good. The Egyptians were soothsayers, and therefore the prophet describes their fear in this manner: if anyone mentions Judah or the people of Judah in their presence, they will view it as a sign of impending ruin - why did someone suddenly mention Judah now? Who knows what disaster or misfortune is about to befall me! To such an extent will the name of Judah instill weakness in their hearts that the mere hearing of the name will be an ominous portent to them, and they will begin to think: who knows what evil scheme the Holy One, blessed be He, is planning against me.
From this emerges a great moral lesson. There are people who follow such vanities: one sees a black cat, and he already has interpretations, explanations, and omens. Do not follow after vanities in the manner of the Egyptians, who would see something that appeared bad in their eyes and say, "My enemy passed before me, today I will fail," or "Just as I was leaving he walked past me, today I will have bad luck." The Gemara states that this is from the ways of the Amorites, and for this reason the Sages said that a person should not say to his fellow, "Do not come demand your debt from me on Motza'ei Shabbat, for you are making it a bad week for me" - the week has not even begun and you are already asking where the money is! Likewise, what merchants call a "siftech" (auspicious first sale) is also from the ways of the Amorites. A person is forbidden to make omens for himself: if I do this I will succeed, and if not, I will not succeed.
Five Cities Speaking the Language of Canaan
בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יִהְיוּ חָמֵשׁ עָרִים בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם מְדַבְּרוֹת שְׂפַת כְּנַעַן וְנִשְׁבָּעוֹת לַה' צְבָאוֹת עִיר הַהֶרֶס יֵאָמֵר לְאֶחָת׃ - On that day, there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking the language of Canaan and swearing to the Lord of Hosts; one shall be called the City of Destruction.
Rashi cites what we learned in Seder Olam: after the downfall of Sennacherib, when the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 troop commanders around Jerusalem in a single night, Chizkiyahu arose and released the populations that Sennacherib had brought with him from Egypt and Cush. For he had brought captives with him, and what would Chizkiyahu do with all that labor force? He sent them away free. And those people, seeing the great kindness of Chizkiyahu, accepted upon themselves the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven and returned to their homeland, to Egypt and Cush. There they went and built an altar to the Lord in the land of Egypt and offered sacrifices upon it to Heaven, fulfilling what is said: "On that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt." Rashi also brings another explanation, that some of our Sages interpreted this in Masechet Menachot as referring to the altar of the House of Chonyo, the son of Shimon HaTzaddik, who quarreled with his brother, fled to Egypt, and there established an altar and offered sacrifices.
And what is the "City of Destruction" (Ir HaHeres)? Yonatan translates: "The city of Beit Shemesh, which is destined to be destroyed, shall be said of one of them" - one of the cities is a city called Beit Shemesh in Egypt (not our Beit Shemesh in the Land of Israel), and that city is destined to be destroyed. Rashi explains that the Targum interpreted the word in two ways, since in Lashon HaKodesh the letters hei and chet frequently interchange, so it can be read HaHeres (destruction) or HaCheres (the sun). And cheres in the Holy Tongue means the sun, as in "Timnat Cheres" where Yehoshua was buried - he who caused the sun to stand still in the heavens was buried in Timnat Cheres; and as Shimshon said to his companions, "Before the sun (hacharsa) went down," before the sun set. Hence "Ir HaCheres" is the City of the Sun (Heliopolis). The Malbim explains that it was called this because in that place in Egypt they worshipped the sun, and therefore they called it the City of the Sun; furthermore, it was a city destined to be destroyed, and thus "Ir HaHeres," denoting ruin and devastation. We likewise find the term cheres used in the sense of the sun in the verse, "Who speaks to the sun (cheres) and it does not shine."
The Malbim explains the subject of the verse: those five cities will speak the language of Canaan - for they were here in the land of Judah, and from here Chizkiyahu sent them back to Egypt - and they are "swearing to the Lord of Hosts," meaning they will believe in the Lord. For whoever believes in something swears by it: one who believes in an idol swears by his god, and one who believes in the Lord, blessed be He, swears by the Lord. Furthermore, they will establish an oath and an agreement among themselves, that whichever city of the five retreats from the oath and refuses to worship the Lord - "one shall be called the City of Destruction," it will be a ruined city, and we will destroy it. To such an extent will their total commitment to serve the Lord reach.
An Altar in the Midst of the Land of Egypt, and a Pillar at Its Border
בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יִהְיֶה מִזְבֵּחַ לַה' בְּתוֹךְ אֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם וּמַצֵּבָה אֵצֶל גְּבוּלָהּ לַה'׃ - In that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at its border to the Lord.
The altar will be in the midst of the land of Egypt, for servants of Hashem will be there, and upon it those five cities that swore to serve Hashem will offer sacrifices. The pillar, specifically, will stand at the border to symbolize that Hashem is God, and that against anyone coming through the border to oppress and harm, the Holy One, blessed be He, will fight our battle. This was the custom of the Egyptians, who would set up their pagan emblems at the entrance to a city or country so that they would guard against enemy intrusion. We similarly find regarding the Children of Israel during the Exodus that they arrived at "Pi Hachirot" (Pi-hahiroth) - which was the name of an idolatrous shrine that also appears in ancient records, on ancient inscriptions and papyri, in the form of "Pi-Chiroti." Here, in contrast, they will build an altar to Hashem in the interior of the land and erect a pillar at the border. A pillar (matzevah), as is well known, was once a means through which Hashem was served - Yaakov Avinu erected a pillar - but in a later period the nations adopted it for their idolatry, and it became detestable before the Omnipresent; since then, Hashem is not served upon a pillar, but upon an altar alone. Yet it remained the way of the nations to sacrifice upon a pillar or to anoint it with oil.
For a Sign and for a Witness - What Was and What Will Be
וְהָיָה לְאוֹת וּלְעֵד לַה' צְבָאוֹת בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם כִּי יִצְעֲקוּ אֶל ה' מִפְּנֵי לֹחֲצִים וְיִשְׁלַח לָהֶם מוֹשִׁיעַ וָרָב וְהִצִּילָם׃ - And it shall be for a sign and for a witness to the Lord of Hosts in the land of Egypt; for they shall cry out to the Lord because of the oppressors, and He will send them a savior and a defender, and deliver them.
The altar and the pillar will serve as a sign and as a witness. The Malbim explains that there is a difference between a sign (ot) and a witness (ed): A sign denotes something that has already occurred, as in, "And you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand" - the sign recalls an event that took place, a reminder of the past. A witness points toward the future, as in, "This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness" - the heap will testify in the future whether I cross over to you or you cross over to me. Therefore, the pillar will serve as a sign to Hashem, so to speak, that the Holy One, blessed be He, will see it and remember through it that we accepted upon ourselves to serve only Him; and the altar will be in the category of a witness, testifying to us to walk in the upright path and not stray from it, which requires a witness concerning the future. Consequently, "for they shall cry out to the Lord because of the oppressors" - when distress arrives, God forbid, and we cry out to Hashem, He will send us a savior and a defender and deliver us, for we possess the pillar as a sign that we took upon ourselves the service of Hashem.
And the Lord Shall Be Known to Egypt - From Initial Awareness to Complete Knowledge
וְנוֹדַע ה' לְמִצְרַיִם וְיָדְעוּ מִצְרַיִם אֶת ה' בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא וְעָבְדוּ זֶבַח וּמִנְחָה וְנָדְרוּ נֵדֶר לַה' וְשִׁלֵּמוּ׃ - And the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and shall serve with sacrifice and offering, and shall vow a vow to the Lord, and perform it.
Because Hashem will help Egypt, this matter will become known to them. As is well known in the Malbim's methodology, *yediah* (knowledge) always signifies clear and absolute knowledge, free of any doubt. However, there are two stages here: First, "and the Lord shall be known to Egypt" - this is the beginning of the process, the initial disclosure; and once the matter begins to become known, a person starts to investigate and pay attention, and then "and the Egyptians shall know the Lord" - complete knowledge, where they contemplate Him, blessed be He, observe His providence over every single detail, and come to know Him on their own through their own intellect.
Naturally, once a person knows Hashem - "and shall serve with sacrifice and offering" - they will offer sacrifices only to Hashem, blessed be He, and will serve Hashem at the altar in the land of Egypt. Not only that, but "and shall vow a vow to the Lord," for a vow relates to the future. It is human nature in times of distress to make vows: Yaakov Avinu vowed, "If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go"; Yiftach vowed that whoever came forth first from the doors of his house would belong to Hashem if the Holy One, blessed be He, helped him; and likewise the men aboard the ship with Yonah made vows to Hashem so that He would save them. So too here, they will make a vow, and ultimately salvation will arrive - "and perform it," they will fulfill their vow when salvation comes.
Striking and Healing - A Plague Followed by a Cure
וְנָגַף ה' אֶת מִצְרַיִם נָגֹף וְרָפוֹא וְשָׁבוּ עַד ה' וְנֶעְתַּר לָהֶם וּרְפָאָם׃ - And the Lord shall smite Egypt, smiting and healing, and they shall return to the Lord, and He will be entreated of them, and will heal them.
From now on, Hashem will not deal with Egypt as He dealt with the other nations that are hateful in His eyes, for when He strikes them, He strikes by way of vengeance, to destroy and leave no remnant of them. With Egypt, it will not be so: "striking and healing" - a striking that is by way of healing. There is a plague that comes to destroy and consume, and there is an affliction that comes to bring near and bring back in repentance, followed by healing. And this is what is stated: "All the sickness that I placed upon Egypt I will not place upon you, for I am Hashem your Healer." But seemingly, if He does not place sickness upon you, what need is there to say "for I am Hashem your Healer"? Rather, the sickness He placed upon Egypt was an affliction not meant for healing but for vengeance, and such an affliction has no cure; whereas upon Israel He will not place that type, but rather sickness accompanied by healing, which is essentially an act of chesed, in contrast to sickness that brings only harm and death. For surely there will be sickness - because without it, how could there be drawing close, how could there be repentance, and how could there be an awakening? After all, Chizkiyahu was awakened only as a result of his illness, and such is the reality known to all of us.
The Malbim makes a wonderful observation: nowhere in Tanach is healing juxtaposed with a plague except right here, for "striking" (nagof) always denotes total death, something after which no existence remains. Only here, with Egypt, does the Holy One, blessed be He, say that there will be a striking that is by way of healing: if they turn aside from the upright path, He will strike them, and when they return to Him - "He will be entreated of them and heal them." And the word ne'etar ("entreated") conveys abundance: hama'tir is one who multiplies; one who multiplies prayer and supplication is called ma'tir, and one who accepts the prayer and supplications is called ne'etar. Out of the abundance of their plea and prayer, Hashem will be entreated of them and will heal them.
In summary:
In the chapter before us, the prophet turns to Egypt's wise men and asks, "Where, then, are your wise men?" - neither here nor anywhere in the world is there a wise man who knows what Hashem has planned. The princes of Tzo'an, who are "the cornerstone of its tribes," its foremost leaders, reassured the princes of Noph and enticed them to rebel; all of this was from Hashem, Who mingled within her a spirit of dizziness, a spirit of confusion and recurring madness, until Egypt erred in matters contrary to common sense, like a drunkard wallowing in his vomit. Because of this, no action will avail - neither head nor tail, palm branch nor reed. Egypt will be like women, and perpetual dread and ongoing terror will fall upon her even from a slight waving of Hashem's hand, and even the mere mention of the name of Yehudah will become an omen boding ill for her, after the manner of soothsayers - and from here comes a warning not to follow omens and vanities, which are the ways of the Amorites. Finally, comfort arrives: five cities in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to Hashem; an altar will be erected in the midst of the land and a monument near its border, as a sign of the past and a witness for the future; and Egypt will progress from initial knowledge to complete knowledge of Hashem, offering sacrifice and meal-offering, making vows and fulfilling them. And if she is struck - it will be the only plague in Tanach that brings healing with it, a plague whose entire purpose is to return them to Hashem: "And they will return to Hashem, and He will be entreated of them and heal them."