Isaiah 19:15

Modern

There is nothing Egypt can do—head or tail, palm or reed.

Traditional

Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.

Literal

And there will not be work for Egypt that one could do—head or tail, palm branch or reed,

Latin

Et non erit Ægypto opus quod faciat caput et caudam, incurvantem et refrenantem.

Hebrew

English

There is nothing Egypt can do—head or tail, palm or reed.

There is nothing Egypt can do: No leader, idol, or human wisdom can stop God’s judgment.
The head and the tail represented all of Egypt's leaders, from the most important to the least important (see Isaiah 9:14–15).

The prophet mocked the leaders and wise men of Egypt, who could not prevent the disaster.

Isaiah 9:14–15
So the LORD will cut off Israel’s head and tail, both palm branch and reed in a single day.
Proverbs 14:23
There is profit in all labor, but mere talk leads only to poverty.
Haggai 1:11
I have summoned a drought on the fields and on the mountains, on the grain, new wine, and oil, and on whatever the ground yields, on man and beast, and on all the labor of your hands.”
Psalm 128:2
For when you eat the fruit of your labor, blessings and prosperity will be yours.
Habakkuk 3:17
Though the fig tree does not bud and no fruit is on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the sheep are cut off from the fold and no cattle are in the stalls,
1 Thessalonians 4:11–12
…and to aspire to live quietly, to attend to your own matters, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you.

Egypt: Ancient nation; Israelites enslaved there; plagues and Exodus