Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 19:14

"Jehovah hath mingled a spirit of perverseness in the midst of her; and they have caused Egypt to go astray in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit." — Isaiah 19:14 (ASV)

The Lord has mingled - The word מסך mâsak — “to mingle,” is used commonly to denote the act of mixing spices with wine to make it more intoxicating (Proverbs 9:2), (Proverbs 9:5); (Isaiah 5:22). Here it means that Yahweh has poured out among them a spirit of giddiness; that is, has produced consternation among them. National commotions and calamities are often thus traced to the overruling providence of God (see the note at Isaiah 19:2).

A perverse spirit - Hebrew, ‘A spirit of perverseness.’ The word rendered ‘perverse’ is derived from עוה ‛âvâh, “to be crooked or perverted.” Here it means, that their counsels were unwise, and such as tended to error and ruin.

To err as a drunken man ... - This is a very striking figure. The whole nation was reeling to and fro, and unsettled in their counsels, as a man is who is so intoxicated as to reel and to vomit. Nothing could more strikingly express, first, the “fact” of their perverted counsels and plans, and secondly, God’s deep abhorrence of the course which they were pursuing.