And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.
The waters shall fail from the sea - the Nile. Physical calamities, it is observed in history, often accompany political convulsions (Ezekiel 30:12). The Nile shall "fail" to rise to its wonted height, the result of which will be barrenness and famine. Its "waters" at the time of the overflow resemble 'a sea' (Pliny, 'Hist. Nat.' 35: 11), and it is still called El-Bahr, "the sea," by the Egyptians (Isaiah 18:2; Jeremiah 51:36). A public record is kept at Cairo of the daily rise of the water at the proper time of overflow-namely, August. If it rises to a height less than twelve cubits, it will not overflow the land, and famine must be the result. So also when it rises higher than sixteen cubits; because the waters are not drained off in time sufficient to sow the seed.