Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.
Whom - rather, Which, namely, "the land," or 'earth,' - i:e., the people of it (Maurer).
Blessed (be) Egypt my people - the special designation of Israel, the elect people, here applied to Egypt, to express its entire admission to religious privileges (Romans 9:24-26; 1 Peter 2:9-10).
And Assyria the work of my hands - spiritually (Hosea 2:23; Ephesians 2:10).
Remarks: How vain are men's boasts of wise and kingly ancestors! The wisdom and glory which are not of the Lord give place to abject and helpless "fear" when "the Lord shaketh His hand" in wrath. But the Lord remembers mercy amidst judgments. Suffering and terror, through God's judgments made manifest, are often overruled to the sinner's conviction and conversion, as in the case of Egypt. Christianity, when it shall have played out its full and final results, shall counterwork all the evils of the fall, and subsequently of the confusion of tongues at Babel. In the perfect state which yet shall be, all the redeemed out of every land shall speak the same tongue, praising the Triune God with one heart and one voice. Meanwhile we should try in spirit to speak already "the language of Canaan," the better land to which we are hastening.