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)

complete verse (Exodus 37:17)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 37:17:

  • Kupsabiny: “He made the thing for placing the lamps on. He shaped (it) from pure gold and put it at the bottom of that thing and (on) the stem. He made for that thing some things like flowers which have blossomed and all branched from the stem of that thing.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Bezalel made a lampstand of pure gold beating by hammer. He made its bases, handle, flowerlike bowls, buds and flowers all from the same piece of gold.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “They also made place-to-put the light/lamp that/which its leg, body were pure gold, and decorative flower wherein some/others are still buds and others are- already -blossoming. The decoration was already formed previously along-with the body of the place-to-put the light when it was made.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “And when it was done, then he took good gol and then made it so that it became a lams stand (lit. leg), for putting lams onto it. He pounded gol with a pounding stone and so made the lams stand’s base and its trunk and it branches to be places for putting the lams. And he made the lams places from gol so that they looked like hibiscus blossoms. And all the lams stand’s things, he made from a single piece of gol.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “And they take gold which not [eye] be mixed with other things, forge it into lampstand. Its stool with its stem, and its bowls, and its leaf, and its flower, they pound it together.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “He made the lampstand from pure gold. Its base and its shaft were hammered from one large lump of gold. The branches of the lampstand, the cups for holding the oil, the flower buds and the petals that decorated the branches of the lamp, the base, and the shaft were all hammered from one big lump of gold.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Exodus 37:17

This verse is almost identical with 25.31, with only two differences: The verbs, He also made, were made, and were, are here in the past tense to show that the work was completed. And the definite article the is used in the lampstand, since this is now old information. In 25.31, which mentions the menorah for the first time, it is “a lampstand.” (See the comment there.)

The same textual problem occurs here as in 25.31, where a few translations read the word for shaft in the plural, with the meaning of “branches.” (See the comment there.) It is better, however, to follow the Masoretic Text and understand it as the “central stem” of the lampstand (Translator’s Old Testament).

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 .