Isaiah 19:15

15 And work shall not be to Egypt, that it make an head and tail bowing and refraining. (And there shall not be work in Egypt, not for head nor tail, nor for the palm tree or the bulrush.)

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 The princes of Tanis be made fools; the princes of Memphis faded; they deceived Egypt, a corner(stone) of the peoples thereof. (The leaders of Zoan be made fools; the leaders of Noph faded away; they deceived Egypt, yea, the chieftains of the peoples there.)

14 The Lord meddled a spirit of error in the midst thereof; and they made Egypt for to err in all his work, as a drunken man and spewing erreth. (The Lord mixed in a spirit of error in its midst; and so the leaders made Egypt to err in all its ways and works, like a drunken man who wandereth about in his own spewing, or his own vomit.)

15 And work shall not be to Egypt, that it make an head and tail bowing and refraining. (And there shall not be work in Egypt, not for head nor tail, nor for the palm tree or the bulrush.)

16 In that day Egypt shall be as (weak as) women, and they shall be astonied, and shall dread of the face of the moving of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which he moved on it. (On that day the Egyptians shall become as weak as women, and they shall be astonished, and they shall fear the moving of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which he shall move against them.)

17 And the land of Judah shall be to Egypt into dread; each that shall think on it, shall dread of the face of the counsel of the Lord of hosts, which he thought on it. (And the land of Judah shall be feared by the Egyptians; and everyone who shall think about it, shall fear the counsel of the Lord of hosts, which he hath thought against them.)