And there will be nothing for Egypt which head or tail, palm branch or reed, may do: After the LORD has confused the Egyptians, none of their people will be able to help them. The idiom, Head or tail, palm branch or reed, was used earlier in 9.14. There the head referred to the elders, and the tail to the false prophets. Here the four terms represent all the people in society, both the upper classes and the lower classes. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh keeps the idiom, but adds a footnote saying it refers to “a man of either high or low station” (similarly New American Bible). Good News Translation uses nonfigurative language, saying “rich or poor, important or unknown” (similarly Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Most English translations render the idiom without any comment (so RSV/NRSV, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible), but this is not very helpful for readers unfamiliar with it. Translators have the choice of preserving the figurative language and adding a footnote by way of explanation, or rendering it nonfiguratively. Bible en français courant uses an alternative idiom, saying “From top to bottom in society.”

Translation possibilities for this verse are:

• Nobody in Egypt, be they high or low, great or small, can do anything [about it].

• There is nothing anyone in Egypt can do, be they head or tail, palm branch or reed.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .