Here the prophet warns about the unreliability of the Egyptians. God will punish them and those who receive their help. This verse begins with the common Hebrew conjunction (literally “And”). Like Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, most versions omit it.

The Egyptians are men, and not God: The Egyptians are human and suffer from human limitations; they do not have any divine power. The Hebrew word translated God is ʾel rather than the more common term ʾelohim. Here it is a generic term for the divine, as in Ezek 28.9, to contrast the human with the divine. New Jerusalem Bible expresses this by rendering the whole line as “The Egyptian is human, not divine,” and Revised English Bible has “The Egyptians are mortals, not gods” (similarly Good News Translation). Bible en français courant says “The Egyptians are nothing more than human beings, they do not have any divine power.”

And their horses are flesh, and not spirit is parallel to the previous line. Flesh parallels men and spirit parallels God. So flesh refers to what is weak and mortal, while spirit points to what is supernatural and immortal. Bible en français courant translates “their horses are nothing more than horses, they do not have any supernatural gift” (similarly Good News Translation). Another possible model is “and their horses are just animals, they have no powers higher than that.” However, in many languages a simple contrast between flesh and spirit will be acceptable.

When the LORD stretches out his hand: The metaphor of Yahweh’s outstretched hand refers to punishment here, as in 5.25 and 14.26-27 (see the comments there).

The helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall: These parallel clauses give the result of Yahweh’s punishment. The helper refers to Egypt, while he who is helped points to those in Judah who depend on Egypt. Good News Translation translates the helper and he who is helped as “the strong nation” and “the weak nation,” but this is certainly not what the text says. Translators should keep the idea of “help” since it is a keyword in verses 1-3. The verb stumble is parallel with fall, so the helper will stumble refers to the downfall of Egypt (compare 3.8, where the same two verbs occur). The same will happen to those who depend on it.

And they will all perish together: This line summarizes the previous one. It may be rendered “they will be destroyed together.”

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• Egyptians are human, not divine;
their horses are flesh, not spirit.
When Yahweh punishes them,
the helper will stumble and the one helped will fall;
they both will be destroyed.

• The Egyptians are human beings, not gods;
their war-horses are flesh, not spiritual beings.
When Yahweh stretches out his hand to deal with them,
both the helper and the one being helped will fall;
together they will perish.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .