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 Wisdom 3:7

In the time of their visitation they will shine forth: Their visitation refers back to 2.20 (see the note there). Just as they thought, God will act (visit them) to vindicate them, although that will happen after death. Then they will shine in triumph (compare Dan 12.3; Matt 13.43). Good News Translation paints the wrong picture here. This is not an occasion of the righteous taking vengeance against the ungodly, but of being vindicated over them, of proving victorious at the end. Shine forth probably has the sense of first coming to light (like a spark emerging from apparently dead ashes) and then coming to glow and give off light (rather than reflecting light). So we may say something like “When God acts to save them, they will start to glow like embers blown to life.”

And will run like sparks through the stubble: This is a familiar figure of judgment. Compare Isa 1.31; Joel 2.5; Zech 12.6; Mal 4.1; and especially Oba 18. The picture is of a grain field that was harvested in the spring. The portion of the plants left standing, the stubble, became dry in the summer heat, and the fields were then set afire. When a spark fell into such dry stubble, tongues of flame went coursing through the field until it was burned. At night flames might still remain, shining in the dark. This is possibly the reference of shine forth in the first line. The “wicked” (Good News Translation) are the burning stubble, the stuff left over after the harvest, but the righteous are not so much blazing out against them in anger (Good News Translation) as sharing in God’s victory over them. The punishment of the wicked is the vindication of the righteous.

An alternative model is:

• When God acts to save them, they will start to glow like embers blown to life, and then blaze up like the fires set by farmers, fires that go racing through the dry fields of stubble.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Wisdom of Solomon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2004. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.