Isaiah 19:15

15 Egypt's hopeless, past helping, a senile, doddering old fool.

Isaiah 19:15 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 19:15

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 Isaiah 9:15 ) . 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.

Isaiah 19:15 In-Context

13 As it is, the princes of Zoan are all fools and the princes of Memphis, dunces. The honored pillars of your society have led Egypt into detours and dead ends.

14 God has scrambled their brains, Egypt's become a falling-down-in-his-own-vomit drunk.

15 Egypt's hopeless, past helping, a senile, doddering old fool.

16 On that Day, Egyptians will be like hysterical schoolgirls, screaming at the first hint of action from God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

17 Little Judah will strike terror in Egyptians! Say "Judah" to an Egyptian and see panic. The word triggers fear of the God-of-the-Angel-Armies' plan against Egypt.