Yesaya 19:15

19:15 Egypt will not be able to do a thing,

head or tail, shoots and stalk. ¹ 

Yesaya 41:29

41:29 Look, all of them are nothing, ² 

their accomplishments are nonexistent;

their metal images lack any real substance. ³ 

[19:15]  ¹ tn Heb “And there will not be for Egypt a deed, which head and tail, shoot and stalk can do.” In 9:14-15 the phrase “head or tail” refers to leaders and prophets, respectively. This interpretation makes good sense in this context, where both leaders and advisers (probably including prophets and diviners) are mentioned (vv. 11-14). Here, as in 9:14, “shoots and stalk” picture a reed, which symbolizes the leadership of the nation in its entirety.

[41:29]  ² tc The Hebrew text has אָוֶן (’aven, “deception,” i.e., “false”), but the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has אין (“nothing”), which forms a better parallel with אֶפֶס (’efes, “nothing”) in the next line. See also 40:17 and 41:12.

[41:29]  ³ tn Heb “their statues are wind and nothing”; NASB “wind and emptiness”; NIV “wind and confusion.”