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Monday, June 9th, 2025
the Week of Proper 5 / Ordinary 10
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Read the Bible

New Life Version

Isaiah 19:15

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.

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.
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 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 The special word about Egypt: See, the Lord is traveling on a fast cloud and is coming to Egypt. The false gods of Egypt shake in fear before Him. The hearts of the Egyptians become weak. 2 "I will make Egyptians go against Egyptians. Each of them will fight against his brother, and each against his neighbor. City will fight against city, and nation against nation. 3 Then the spirit of the Egyptians will become weak within them. And I will bring their plans to nothing. They will go to false gods and spirits of the dead for help, and to those who speak with spirits of the dead and use their secret ways. 4 Then I will give the Egyptians into the hand of a bad ruler. An angry king will rule over them," says the Lord God of All. 5 The waters of the sea will dry up. The river will become dry. 6 Manmade rivers will smell bad. The small rivers of Egypt will dry up. And the plants by the rivers will waste away. 7 The grass by the side of the Nile and all that is planted by the Nile will become dry, will be driven away, and be no more. 8 The fishermen will cry in sorrow. All those who fish for a living in the Nile River will be filled with sorrow. And those who put out nets on its waters will become weak. 9 Those who make linen and white cloth will be very troubled. 10 The pillars of Egypt will be crushed. All the able workmen will be filled with sorrow.

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 they went to bed, all the men of the city of Sodom both young and old gathered around the house.
Genesis 19:5
They called to Lot, saying, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so we may lie with them."
Genesis 19:7
He said, "My brothers, please do not be so sinful.
Genesis 19:8
See, I have two daughters who have never had a man. Let me bring them out to you. And do to them whatever you want. But do nothing to these men, for they have come to be safe under my roof."
Genesis 19:17
When they had brought them out of the city, one of them said, "Run for your life! Do not look behind you. Do not stop until you are out of the valley. Run to the mountains or else you will be destroyed."
Genesis 19:22
Hurry and run there. For I cannot do anything until you get there." So the name given to the town was Zoar.
Genesis 19:24
Then the Lord poured fire from the heavens upon Sodom and Gomorrah.
Genesis 19:25
He destroyed those cities, and all the valley, and all the people of the cities, and what grew on the ground.
Genesis 19:27
Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord.
2 Corinthians 6:2
The Holy Writings say, "I heard you at the right time. I helped you on that day to be saved from the punishment of sin. Now is the right time! See! Now is the day 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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