This verse is part of Isaiah’s prophecy of doom against Egypt. God’s punishment would be so devastating that it would spoil the Egyptian fishing industry. Fish taken from the Nile River and it’s tributaries were a staple of this ancient nation’s diet.

Two types of fishing are mentioned in this verse-with hooks and with nets. Their hooks were probably made of bronze and were baited with live bait, just like fishing hooks today, Nets were cast into the water from the shore or dropped from small boats. Both types of fishing are pictured on stone monuments from Egypt’s past.

ISAIAH 19:8 – The fishers [fishermen, NIV] also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle [hooks, NIV] into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.