Bible Strands
Isaiah 36:6
Look now, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Rabshakeh confronts Judah’s officials during the Assyrian siege, interrogating their reliance on Pharaoh as a military substitute for divine protection.
The words — The Hebrew מִשְׁעֶנֶת הַקָּנֶה הָרָצוּץ (mish'eNet ha.qaNe ha.raTzutz) literally translates to "splintered reed of a staff," denoting a broken support that wounds the hand that grips it.
The thread — The identical phrasing appears in 2 Kings 18:21, while Ezekiel 29:6 applies the same staff-of-reeds metaphor to Egypt’s failure against Israel.
Why it lands — The text states that political alliances promise strength but deliver injury, and it requires the reader to abandon human powers that fracture under pressure.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 29:6 Then all the people of Egypt will know that I am the LORD. For you were only a staff of reeds to the house of Israel.
- 2 Kings 18:21 Look now, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.
- 2 Kings 17:4 But the king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea had conspired to send envoys to King So of Egypt, and that he had not paid tribute to the king of Assyria as in previous years. Therefore the king of Assyria arrested Hoshea and put him in prison.
- Isaiah 20:5 Those who made Cush their hope and Egypt their boast will be dismayed and ashamed.
- Isaiah 30:1 “Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out a plan that is not Mine, who form an alliance, but against My will, heaping up sin upon sin.
- Isaiah 31:3 But the Egyptians are men, not God; their horses are flesh, not spirit. When the LORD stretches out His hand, the helper will stumble, and the one he helps will fall; both will perish together.
- Jeremiah 37:5 Pharaoh’s army had left Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report, they withdrew from Jerusalem.