Isaiah 19:13

The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof.

Noph - called also Moph; Greek, Memphis (; ); on the western bank of the Nile, capital of Lower Egypt, second only to Thebes in all Egypt: the residence of the kings, until the Ptolemies removed to Alexandria; the word means the port of the good (Plutarch). The Copts call it Menouf.

The princes of Noph are deceived. The military caste probably ruled in it: 'they also are deceived,' in fancying their country secure from Assyrian invasion.

The stay of the tribes thereof - rather, 'the corner-stone of her castes' (Maurer); i:e., the princes, the two ruling castes, the priests and the warriors: image from a building which rests mainly on its corner- stones (, note; ; ; , margin; ; , margin; ).