Isaiah 36:6

6 Look! You are trusting in the staff of this broken reed, Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.

Isaiah 36:6 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 36:6

Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt,
&c.] His ally and auxiliary; and which is rightly called "the staff of a broken reed", if trusted to, and leaned upon, being weak and frail, and an insufficient ground of confidence to depend upon; the allusion seems to be to the cane or reed which grew upon the banks of the river Nile, in Egypt: whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it;
the splinters of the broken reed being leaned on, will enter into a man's hand, and do him harm, instead of being a help to him to walk with: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him;
pernicious and harmful, instead of being useful and helpful.

Isaiah 36:6 In-Context

4 Then the Rabshakeh said to them, "Say now to Hezekiah, 'Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: "What confidence is this in which you trust?

5 I say you speak of having plans and power for war; but they are mere words. Now in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me?

6 Look! You are trusting in the staff of this broken reed, Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.

7 But if you say to me, 'We trust in the Lord our God,' is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, 'You shall worship before this altar'?" '

8 Now therefore, I urge you, give a pledge to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses--if you are able on your part to put riders on them!