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Sunday, August 24th, 2025
the Week of Proper 16 / Ordinary 21
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Read the Bible

New Century Version

Isaiah 19:15

There is nothing Egypt can do; no one there can help.

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.
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.
Contemporary English Version
No one in Egypt can do a thing, no matter who they are.
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: Look, the Lord is coming on a fast cloud to enter Egypt. The idols of Egypt will tremble before him, and Egypt's courage will melt away. 2 The Lord says, "I will cause the Egyptians to fight against themselves. People will fight with their relatives; neighbors will fight neighbors; cities will fight cities; kingdoms will fight kingdoms. 3 The Egyptians will be afraid, and I will ruin their plans. They will ask advice from their idols and spirits of the dead, from their mediums and fortune-tellers." 4 The Lord God All-Powerful says, "I will hand Egypt over to a hard master, and a powerful king will rule over them." 5 The sea will become dry, and the water will disappear from the Nile River. 6 The canals will stink; the streams of Egypt will decrease and dry up. All the water plants will rot; 7 all the plants along the banks of the Nile will die. Even the planted fields by the Nile will dry up, blow away, and disappear. 8 The fishermen, all those who catch fish from the Nile, will groan and cry; those who fish in the Nile will be sad. 9 All the people who make cloth from flax will be sad, and those who weave linen will lose hope. 10 Those who weave cloth will be broken. All those who work for money will be sad.

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 bedtime, men both young and old and from every part of Sodom surrounded Lot's house.
Genesis 19:5
They called to Lot, "Where are the two men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so we can have sexual relations with them."
Genesis 19:7
He said, "No, my brothers! Do not do this evil thing.
Genesis 19:8
Look! I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. I will give them to you, and you may do anything you want with them. But please don't do anything to these men. They have come to my house, and I must protect them."
Genesis 19:17
After they brought them out of the city, one of the men said, "Run for your lives! Don't look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Run to the mountains, or you will be destroyed."
Genesis 19:22
But run there fast, because I cannot destroy Sodom until you are safely in that town." (That town is named Zoar, because it is little.)
Genesis 19:24
The Lord sent a rain of burning sulfur down from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah
Genesis 19:25
and destroyed those cities. He also destroyed the whole Jordan Valley, everyone living in the cities, and even all the plants.
Genesis 19:27
Early the next morning, Abraham got up and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord .
2 Corinthians 6:2
God says, "At the right time I heard your prayers. On the day of salvation I helped you." Isaiah 49:8 I tell you that the "right time" is now, and the "day of salvation" is now.

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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