Isaiah 9:14
in Isaiah 9So the LORD will cut off Israel’s head and tail, both palm branch and reed in a single day.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Therefore Jehovah will cut off from Israel head and tail, palm-branch and rush, in one day.
KJV
Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day.
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This verse in Isaiah 9
Commentary
13 notes on this verse(Vers. 14 seqq.) And the Lord will scatter from Israel the head and the tail, the bend and the corrupt in one day. The venerable and honorable, he is the head; and the Prophet teaching falsehood, he is the tail. And there will be those who call this people blessed, deceiving, and those who are called blessed, being cast down. Therefore, the Lord will not rejoice over his young men, and will not have mercy on his orphans and widows, for every hypocrite is wicked, and every mouth has spoken foolishness.
This site's exposition
But the people did not return
on Isaiah 9:13-14
The failure behind the boast is named, for "the people did not return to Him who struck them" nor sought the LORD of Hosts. The Lord will cut off Israel's "head and tail, both palm branch and reed in a single day," every rank of society in one stroke.
This site's exposition
both palm branch and reed
The palm branch grows at the crown of the tree and the reed in the marsh, so the pair means high and low. Verse 15 explains the head as the elder and the tail as the prophet who teaches lies. Gill counted the king and his judges among the head.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
Remember what is written in Isaiah: "The elder and honored man is the head, and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail, and there will be some who delight my people while deceiving them, and those who are delighted will be cast headlong." Thus …
He who may have been at the head of the flock of Christ is now made the tail of another flock, as God declared through Isaiah: "The prophet who teaches lies is the tail." Everyone among the people who is of right faith, even though …
The Medieval Church2 voices
315. The Lord shall destroy. Here he threatens against trust in the use of persons; and first, the punishment is set out; second, the preparation of further punishment: for all this (Isa 9:17). Now persons seemed useful either for defense, and against these he threatens …
Where the head and the tail are said through the prophet to be destroyed, it is clear that priests are designated by the head and prophets by the tail. The crown, therefore, is removed from the head when those who are seen to preside over the body of the church abandon the rewards of heavenly compensation. Once its leaders fall, normally, the army that follows them also succumbs. Hence, soon after the condemnation of the leaders, Job comments on the manifold afflictions of the church: "He destroyed me on every side, and I perish; and he has removed my hope like uprooting a tree." For the church is destroyed on every side and perishes in the persons of its sick members when those who seem to be its strength are corrupted, that is, when the crown is removed from the head because its leaders have abandoned their pursuit of eternal rewards. It is in reference to the sick who have fallen that Job then adds, fittingly: "and he removed my hope like uprooting a tree." A tree is felled by a gust of wind. And what is more similar to a person who falls into unrighteousness as a result of being terrorized with threats than a tree that loses its straightness because of the wind?
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail,.... The former of these is afterwards interpreted of "the ancient and honourable", men in high places, civil magistrates, judges, governors, and elders of the people, the king as supreme, and all subordinate officers; and so the Targum, "the Lord will destroy from Israel the prince and the ruler;'' and the latter is interpreted of the false prophet.
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The reason why the judgments of God are prolonged is because the point is not gained, sinners are not brought to repentance by them. The people turn not to him that smites them, and therefore he continues to smite them; for when God judges he will overcome, and the proudest stoutest sinner shall either bend or break.
(2.) Their prophets, their false prophets, were the tail and the rush, the most despicable of all. A wicked minister is the worst of all. A wicked minister is the worst of men.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
In one day - Thirteen MSS. of Kennicott and De Rossi read ביום beyond in a day; and another has a rasure in the place of the letter ב beth.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
head and tail--proverbial for the highest and lowest (De 28:13, 44). branch and rush--another image for the same thought (Isa 19:15). The branch is elevated on the top of the tree: the rush is coarse and low.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Will cut off head and tail - This is a proverbial expression, which is explained in the following verse; see also Deu 28:13-14. The head is often used to denote those in honor and authority. The tail is an expression applicable to the lower ranks, and would commonly indicate more than simply the common people. It would imply contempt; a state of great abjectness and meanness. Branch and rush - This is also a proverbial expression, meaning the highest and lowest; see the note at Isa 19:15. The word here translated branch, means properly the bough or top of the palm tree. The palm grew to a great height before it gave out any branches, and hence, the image is a beautiful one to denote those high in office and authority. The word rush means the coarse, long-jointed reed, that grows in marshes - an apt emblem of the base and worthless classes of society.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
a large arch and a small arch An expression denoting kings and sultans.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 1 further source is cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיַּכְרֵ֨ת | vaiyakhret | and he cut off | H3772 → | 288 times |
| יְהוָ֜ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| מִיִּשְׂרָאֵ֗ל | miyisrael | from Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| רֹ֧אשׁ | rosh | head | H7218 → | 599 times |
| וְזָנָ֛ב | vezanav | and tail | H2180 → | 11 times |
| כִּפָּ֥ה | kipah | palm branch | H3712 → | |
| וְאַגְמ֖וֹן | veagmon | and bulrush | H100 → | 5 times |
| י֥וֹם | yom | day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| אֶחָֽד׃ | ʾechad | one | H259 → | 971 times |
וַיַּכְרֵ֨תand he cut off
vaiyakhretH3772 →288 times
יְהוָ֜הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
מִיִּשְׂרָאֵ֗לfrom Israel
miyisraelH3478 →2507 times
רֹ֧אשׁhead
roshH7218 →599 times
וְזָנָ֛בand tail
vezanavH2180 →11 times
כִּפָּ֥הpalm branch
kipahH3712 →
וְאַגְמ֖וֹןand bulrush
veagmonH100 →5 times
י֥וֹםday
yomH3117 →2304 times
אֶחָֽד׃one
ʾechadH259 →971 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Revelation 18:8Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and grief and famine—and she will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”
it leads to
- Revelation 17:16
And the ten horns and the beast that you saw will hate the prostitute. They will leave her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 50:34
Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of Hosts is His name. He will fervently plead their case so that He may bring rest to the earth, but turmoil to those who live in Babylon.
- Jeremiah 50:31
“Behold, I am against you, O arrogant one,” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts, “for your day has come, the time when I will punish you.
- Revelation 18:9–10
Then the kings of the earth who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her will weep and wail at the sight of the smoke rising from the fire that consumes her.
- Jeremiah 51:58
This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Babylon’s thick walls will be leveled, and her high gates consumed by fire. So the labor of the people will be for nothing; the nations will…
- Revelation 17:16
Through
Amos 3:12This is what the LORD says: “As the shepherd snatches from the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear, so the Israelites dwelling in Samaria will be rescued having…
it leads to
- 1 Samuel 17:34–37
David replied, “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep, and whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock,
- Romans 11:4–5
And what was the divine reply to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
- 1 Samuel 17:34–37
Through
Revelation 18:17For in a single hour such fabulous wealth has been destroyed!” Every shipmaster, passenger, and sailor, and all who make their living from the sea, will stand at a distance
it leads to
- Isaiah 23:14
Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for your harbor has been destroyed!
- Isaiah 23:14
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Isaiah
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Aponius, EXPOSITION OF SONG OF SONGS 2:23; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job 14.43-44; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Primasius of Hadrumetum, COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3:9 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.