Isaiah 36:6

6 "Behold, you rely on the ¹staff of this crushed reed, even on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. ²So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on 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 Rabshakeh said to them, "Say now to Hezekiah, 'Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, "What is this confidence that you have?

5 "I say, 'Your counsel and strength for the war are only empty words.' Now on whom do you rely, that you have rebelled against me?

6 "Behold, you rely on the staff of this crushed reed, even on 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 rely on 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 has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, 'You shall worship before this altar '?

8 "Now therefore, come make a bargain with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them.

Cross References

• 1. Ezekiel 29:6, 7
• 2. Psalms 146:3; Is 30:3, 5, 7

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "palm"