When she could not hide him any longer, she took a basket made of papyrus reeds and coated it with tar and pitch. She put the baby in it and set it among the papyrus reeds near the bank of the Nile River.

Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh? Can reeds thrive without water?

Can you catch Leviathan with a fishhook or tie his tongue down with a rope?

So Jehovah will cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed (rush) in one day.

It sends messengers by sea in boats made of reeds that skim over the surface of the water. Go, swift messengers, to a tall and smooth-skinned people, a people who are feared far and near, a strong and aggressive nation, whose land is divided by rivers.

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

The parched ground will become a lake, and dry land will be filled with springs. Marsh grass and reeds will grow where jackals used to live.

People may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand (power) of Jehovah has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it.

Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it for bowing one's head like a reed (rush) and for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to Jehovah?

Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it for bowing one's head like a reed (rush) and for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to Jehovah?