reed

There are two general types of reed in Israel, the Common Reed Phragmites australis and the Giant Reed Arundo donax, and it is impossible to say which one is intended in a given biblical context.

The English word “cane” comes from the Hebrew word qaneh. Qaneh is the most general Hebrew word of the many referring to reeds and rushes. Like the English word “reed,” it may refer to a specific type of reed or be a general name for several kinds of water plant. This word is also used to refer to the stalk of grain in Pharaoh’s dream (Genesis 41:5, Genesis 41:22), to the shaft and branches of the golden lampstand in the Tabernacle (Exodus 25:31 et al.), to the beam of a scale (Isaiah 46:6), to the upper arm of a person (Job 31:22), to a measuring stick (Ezekiel 40:3 et al.), and to aromatic cane (Song of Songs 4:14 et al.).

The Greek word kalamos is also used to refer to a measuring stick (Revelation 11:1 et al.) and to a pen (3 John 1:13 and 3 Maccabees 4:20).

The common reed is a tall grass with stiff, sharply-pointed leaves and a plume-like flower head that reaches to more than 2 meters (7 feet). It grows in lakes and streams, the roots creeping across the bottom of the lake to produce new leaves and stalks.

The giant reed is similar to the common reed but tends to grow not in the water but on the river banks. Its majestic plumes can reach up to 5 meters (17 feet) in height on hollow stalks that look like bamboo.

Reeds of both kinds were used for baskets, mats, flutes, pens, arrows, and roof-coverings. Isaiah 42:3 says that the Messiah will be gentle with weak people (“a bruised reed he will not break”), in contrast to the typical iron-fisted tyrants of the day. The Pharaoh is likened to an undependable reed staff in 2 Kings 18:21 et al. In 1 Kings 14:15 Israel is compared to a reed shaking in the water.

The common reed of the Mediterranean area has relatives in Europe, India, Japan, and North America. It is thought to be the only species of the genus Phragmites (although some botanists divide it into three species). It is very important for conservationists, because it provides habitat for many kinds of animals and birds. In North America the weaker native type is being overtaken by more robust types from Europe, which are now threatening other kinds of marsh plants. In Japan people eat the young shoots of reeds. Native Americans used to eat the seeds.

Translators living near lakes and rivers will be able to find an equivalent, if not a relative, of the reed. Others can be generic and use “grass” or a phrase such as “tall grass growing in the water.”

Common reed, photo by Rob Koops

Source: Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

In Newari it is translated as “bamboo.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Exod 25:34 - 25:35

And on the lampstand itself refers to the “central stem” (Translator’s Old Testament), or “shaft” (Good News Translation), of verse 31, although the word menorah is used here. Four cups made like almonds is literally “four cups almond-blossom-shaped” (see verse 33). With their capitals and flowers refers to the “calyxes and petals” (New Revised Standard Version), as explained at verse 31. The pronoun there is really the singular “its,” meaning that each the four cups was to have its own capitals and flowers, or “buds and petals” (Good News Translation). Another way of expressing this is “Make four flowers shaped like almond blossoms along with their buds and petals on the shaft [or, stem] of the lampstand.”

And a capital of one piece with it means that “there shall be a calyx” (New Revised Standard Version) formed as part of the “shaft,” or central stem of the lampstand. Under each pair of the six branches condenses three identical phrases into one. Literally the phrase “and a calyx under two of the branches from it” is repeated three times. This means that, just below the joint where each of the three pairs of branches go out from the “shaft,” there is to be a cup that is a part of the “shaft.” (See the illustration, page 601.) The fourth cup evidently was to be at the top end of the central stem as the seventh lamp-holder. (See verse 33.)

Going out from the lampstand is literally “for six of the branches going out from the menorah.” But since Revised Standard Version condenses the three repeated phrases into one, it is already clear that “There is to be one bud below each of the three pairs of branches” (Good News Translation). Since New Revised Standard Version translates the three identical phrases literally, the final phrase is also quite literal: “so for the six branches that go out of the lampstand.” Contemporary English Version has a good model: “There must also be a blossom where each pair of branches comes out from the stem.”

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .