Isaiah 19:15

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

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — The prophet Isaiah pronounces divine judgment on Egypt during a period of national confusion orchestrated by the LORD. The message targets Egypt’s leadership and populace as God’s spirit of confusion takes hold.

The words — The Hebrew text highlights רֹאשׁ (rosh) meaning head and זָנָב (zaNav) meaning tail to describe Egypt’s complete inability to act. The phrase מַֽעֲשֶׂה (ma'aseh) denotes a deed or action that will not occur.

The thread — This head-and-tail imagery reappears in Isaiah 9:14 to describe God’s judgment on Israel. The contrast between labor’s profit and mere talk echoes the futility highlighted here in Proverbs 14:23.

Why it lands — The text declares that Egypt’s leadership and common people will accomplish nothing under God’s confusion. It demands recognition that human strategy fails when divine judgment removes direction.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וְלֹֽא־ve./lo'-and/ not יִהְיֶ֥הyih.Yehit will be לְמִצְרַ֖יִםle./mitz.Ra.yimfor/ Egypt מַֽעֲשֶׂ֑הma.'a.Seha deed אֲשֶׁ֧ר'a.Sherwhich יַעֲשֶׂ֛הya.'a.Sehit will do רֹ֥אשׁroshhead וְזָנָ֖בve./za.Navand/ tail כִּפָּ֥הki.Pahpalm branch וְאַגְמֽוֹן׃ סve./'ag.Monand/ bulrush

King James Version

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

Cross-references

Isaiah 9:14 So the LORD will cut off Israel’s head and tail, both palm branch and reed in a single day.
Psalms 128:2 For when you eat the fruit of your labor, blessings and prosperity will be yours.
Proverbs 14:23 There is profit in all labor, but mere talk leads only to poverty.
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,
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.”
1 Thessalonians 4:11 and to aspire to live quietly, to attend to your own matters, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you.