Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, August 31st, 2025
the Week of Proper 17 / Ordinary 22
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Read the Bible

Contemporary English Version

Isaiah 19:15

No one in Egypt can do a thing, no matter who they are.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - War;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Rush;   Tirhakah;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Rush;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Bulrush;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Branch;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Isaiah, Book of;   Rush, Rushes;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Egypt;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Reed;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Kingdom of Judah;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Branch and Bough;   Head;   Palm Tree;   Philistines;   Rush;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Reed;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
No head or tail, palm or reed,will be able to do anything for Egypt.
Hebrew Names Version
Neither shall there be for Mitzrayim any work, which head or tail, palm-branch or rush, may do.
King James Version
Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.
English Standard Version
And there will be nothing for Egypt that head or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.
New American Standard Bible
There will be no work for Egypt Which its head or tail, its palm branch or bulrush, may do.
New Century Version
There is nothing Egypt can do; no one there can help.
Amplified Bible
There will be no work for Egypt Which head or tail, [high] palm branch or [low] bulrush, may do.
World English Bible
Neither shall there be for Egypt any work, which head or tail, palm-branch or rush, may do.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Neither shall there be any worke in Egypt, which the head may doe, nor the tayle, ye branch nor the rush.
Legacy Standard Bible
There will be no work for EgyptWhich its head or tail, its palm branch or bulrush, may do.
Berean Standard Bible
There is nothing Egypt can do-head or tail, palm or reed.
Complete Jewish Bible
Nobody in Egypt will find work to do — neither head nor tail, neither [tall] palm frond nor [lowly] reed.
Darby Translation
Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, palm-branch or rush, may do.
Easy-to-Read Version
There is nothing the leaders can do. (They are "the heads and the tails." They are "the tops and the stalks of plants.")
George Lamsa Translation
Neither shall there be any leader for the Egyptians who can make head or tail of it, or tail or head.
Good News Translation
No one in Egypt, rich or poor, important or unknown, can offer help.
Lexham English Bible
And there will be nothing for Egypt to do, head or tail, palm branch or reed.
Literal Translation
And Egypt shall have no work that the head or the tail, the branch or rush, may do.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For Egipte shal lacke good councel, so yt they shal not knowe what to do, nether beginnynge nor ende, nether vpon the lode nor water.
American Standard Version
Neither shall there be for Egypt any work, which head or tail, palm-branch or rush, may do.
Bible in Basic English
And in Egypt there will be no work for any man, head or tail, high or low, to do.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Neither shall there be for Egypt any work, which head or tail, palm-branch or rush, may do.
King James Version (1611)
Neither shall there be any worke for Egypt, which the head or taile, branch or rush may doe.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Neither shall the head or tayle, the braunche or reede, be able to do any worke in Egypt.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And there shall be no work to the Egyptians, which shall make head or tail, or beginning or end.
English Revised Version
Neither shall there be for Egypt any work, which head or tail, palm branch or rush, may do.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And werk schal not be to Egipt, that it make an heed and tail bowynge and refreynynge.
Update Bible Version
Neither shall there be for Egypt any work, which head or tail, palm-branch or rush, may do.
Webster's Bible Translation
Neither shall there be [any] work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may perform.
New English Translation
Egypt will not be able to do a thing, head or tail, shoots and stalk.
New King James Version
Neither will there be any work for Egypt,Which the head or tail,Palm branch or bulrush, may do. Isaiah 9:14-16 ">[fn]
New Living Translation
There is nothing Egypt can do. All are helpless— the head and the tail, the noble palm branch and the lowly reed.
New Life Bible
And there will be no work in Egypt and nothing can be done by anyone, its head or tail, its palm branch or river-grass.
New Revised Standard
Neither head nor tail, palm branch or reed, will be able to do anything for Egypt.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And Egypt shall have nothing which can be don Which head or tail palm-top or rush, can do!
Douay-Rheims Bible
And there shall be no work for Egypt, to make head or tail, him that bendeth down, or that holdeth back.
Revised Standard Version
And there will be nothing for Egypt which head or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.
Young's Literal Translation
And there is no work to Egypt, That head or tail, branch or reed, may do.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
There will be no work for Egypt Which its head or tail, its palm branch or bulrush, may do.

Contextual Overview

1 This is a message about Egypt: The Lord comes to Egypt, riding swiftly on a cloud. The people are weak from fear. Their idols tremble as he approaches and says, 2 "I will punish Egypt with civil war— neighbors, cities, and kingdoms will fight each other. 3 "Egypt will be discouraged when I confuse their plans. They will try to get advice from their idols, from the spirits of the dead, and from fortunetellers. 4 I will put the Egyptians under the power of a cruel, heartless king. I, the Lord All-Powerful, have promised this." 5 The Nile River will dry up and become parched land. 6 Its streams will stink, Egypt will have no water, and the reeds and tall grass will dry up. 7 Fields along the Nile will be completely barren; every plant will disappear. 8 Those who fish in the Nile will be discouraged and mourn. 9 None of the cloth makers will know what to do, and they will turn pale. 10 Weavers will be confused; paid workers will cry and mourn.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Isaiah 9:14, Isaiah 9:15, Psalms 128:2, Proverbs 14:23, Habakkuk 3:17, Haggai 1:11, 1 Thessalonians 4:11, 1 Thessalonians 4:12

Cross-References

Genesis 19:4
Before Lot and his guests could go to bed, every man in Sodom, young and old, came and stood outside his house
Genesis 19:5
and started shouting, "Where are your visitors? Send them out, so we can have sex with them!"
Genesis 19:7
Then he said, "Friends, please don't do such a terrible thing!
Genesis 19:8
I have two daughters who have never been married. I'll bring them out, and you can do what you want with them. But don't harm these men. They are guests in my home."
Genesis 19:17
When they were outside, one of the angels said, "Run for your lives! Don't even look back. And don't stop in the valley. Run to the hills, where you will be safe."
Genesis 19:22
Hurry! Run! I can't do anything until you are safely there." The town was later called Zoar because Lot had said it was small.
Genesis 19:24
and the Lord sent burning sulfur down like rain on Sodom and Gomorrah.
Genesis 19:25
He destroyed those cities and everyone who lived in them, as well as their land and the trees and grass that grew there.
Genesis 19:27
That same morning Abraham got up and went to the place where he had stood and spoken with the Lord .
2 Corinthians 6:2
In the Scriptures God says, "When the time came, I listened to you, and when you needed help, I came to save you." That time has come. This is the day for you to be saved.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Neither shall there be [any] work for Egypt,.... No trade or business to carry on; their rivers being dried up, there was no flax to work with, and fine linen was a principal commodity of Egypt; nor any fish to catch, or rushes to make paper of, as before observed: or it would not be in the power of their hands to deliver themselves from the Assyrians that should come against them; and that they should be deprived of wisdom and counsel, and be at their wits' end, not knowing what to do, or what step to take:

which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do: high or low, strong or weak, all ranks and orders of men shall have nothing to do; all shall be weak and dispirited, and void of counsel. By the "head" and "branch" may be meant the king and his nobles; and by the "tail" and "rush" the common people; see Isaiah 9:14. The Targum interprets the whole of their chief men thus,

"and the Egyptians shall have no king to reign, nor prince, noble, governor, or ruler.''

Jarchi explains it of the magicians, astrologers, and stargazers of Egypt, who, with all their boasted knowledge and wisdom, should not be able either to foresee or prevent the evil coming upon them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Neither shall there be any work - The sense is, that there shall be such discord that no man, whether a prince, a politician, or a priest, shall be able to give any advice, or form any plan for the national safety and security, which shall be successful.

Which the head or tail - High or low; strong or weak: those in office and those out of office; all shall be dispirited and confounded. Rosenmuller understands by the head here, the “political” orders of the nation, and by the tail the “sacerdotal” ranks. But the meaning more probably is, the highest and the lowest ranks - all the politicians, and priests, and princes, on the one hand, as the prophet had just stated Isaiah 19:11-15; and all the artificers, fishermen, etc., on the other, as he had stated Isaiah 19:8-10. This verse, therefore, is a “summing up” of all he had said about the calamities that were coming upon them.

Branch or rush - See these words explained in the note at Isaiah 9:14.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 19:15. The head or tail, branch or rushR. D. Kimchi says, there are some who suppose that these words mean the dragon's head and tail; and refer to all those who are conversant in astronomy, astrology, &c.


 
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