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REED.—1. qâneh, tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘reed,’ 1Ki_14:15, 2Ki_18:21, Isa_36:6; Isa_42:3; ‘stalk,’ Gen_41:6; Gen_41:22; ‘sweet cane’ (RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘calamus’), Isa_43:24, Jer_6:20; ‘calamus,’ Son_4:14, Eze_27:19; ‘spearmen,’ Psa_68:30 (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] , but RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘reeds’); also metaphorically used for a ‘bone,’ Job_31:22; the arm of ‘a balance,’ Isa_46:6; and ‘branches’ of a candlestick, Exo_25:31-32. The qâneh is probably the familiar qasâb (Arundo donax), which flourishes on the banks of all the streams and lakes of the Jordan Valley. Miles of it are to be seen at the ‘Ain Feshkhah oasis on the Dead Sea shore, and at the Huleh marshes. It is a lofty reed, often 20 feet high, brilliantly green in the late summer, when all around is dry and bare; but dead-looking, from a distance, in the spring, when it stands in full flower and the lofty stems are crowned by beautiful silken pannicles. In the district mentioned the reeds are cleared from time to time by fire, that the young and tender shoots may grow up to afford fodder for cattle. The covert of the reeds is often the only possible shade (Job_40:21). The bruised reed, which, though standing, a touch will cause to fall and lie bedraggled on the ground, is a familiar sight (2Ki_18:21, Isa_36:8, Eze_29:6-7). A reed forms a most convenient measuring-rod, being straight and light (Eze_40:3; Eze_40:5, Rev_11:1 etc.). In certain passages where qâneh is tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘calamus,’ or ‘sweet cane,’ some imported aromatic cane or hark is meant. For the use of reeds as pens, see Writing, 6.
2. ‘ârôth, Isa_19:7 (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘paper reeds,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘meadows’). See Meadow.
3. ’ãgamm îm, lit.‘pools’ (see Pool), is in Jer_51:32 tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘reeds.’ For bulrushes see Rush.
4. ’ âchû, Job_8:11 EV [Note: English Version.] ‘flag,’ RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘reed-grass.’ See Meadow.
5. ’çbeh, Job_9:26 (RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘reed’). The reference is to light skiffs of papyrus.
E. W. G. Masterman.