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 Isa 9:14. 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.'