Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.
The verse belongs to the burden of Egypt, a prophecy of God's judgments upon that nation. It describes Egypt as left without anyone able to carry out useful work, from the highest to the lowest ranks, represented by head and tail and by branch and rush. It belongs to a prophecy concerning Egypt that refers to the preaching of the gospel in Egypt and Assyria in New Testament times.
It has no fulfillment in modern times but was accomplished centuries ago. It was fulfilled when Egypt was invaded and subdued by Nebuchadnezzar and afterward successively became a prey to Persians, Macedonians, Romans, Saracens, Mamelukes, and Turks, deprived of its natural proprietors and ruled by strangers and slaves with no prince of its own. Its truth is proved by Egypt's state for centuries as poverty, servitude, and oppression with no middle class, neither nobility, clergy, merchants, nor land-holders, with the wretched peasantry glad to labor for five cents a day.
The verse belongs to the burden of Egypt, a prophecy of God's judgments upon that nation. It describes Egypt as left without anyone able to carry out useful work, from the highest to the lowest ranks, represented by head and tail and by branch and rush. It belongs to a prophecy concerning Egypt that refers to the preaching of the gospel in Egypt and Assyria in New Testament times.
It has no fulfillment in modern times but was accomplished centuries ago. It was fulfilled when Egypt was invaded and subdued by Nebuchadnezzar and afterward successively became a prey to Persians, Macedonians, Romans, Saracens, Mamelukes, and Turks, deprived of its natural proprietors and ruled by strangers and slaves with no prince of its own. Its truth is proved by Egypt's state for centuries as poverty, servitude, and oppression with no middle class, neither nobility, clergy, merchants, nor land-holders, with the wretched peasantry glad to labor for five cents a day.