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Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day.
Isaiah 9:14 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB Therefore Yahweh will cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed, in one day.
  • BSB So the LORD will cut off Israel’s head and tail, both palm branch and reed in a single day.
  • NKJV Therefore the Lord will cut off head and tail from Israel, Palm branch and bulrush in one day.
  • NASB So the Lord cuts off head and tail from Israel, Both palm branch and bulrush in a single day.
  • NLT Therefore, in a single day the Lord will destroy both the head and the tail, the noble palm branch and the lowly reed.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

God will cut off both leaders and followers from Israel swiftly and completely.

Overview

"Head and tail, palm branch and reed" picture the whole society, high and low, falling under judgment in a single day. No class escapes the consequences of national sin. The next verse explains the imagery, identifying the corrupt leaders and lying prophets.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 25

  • Rev 18:8Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
  • Isa 19:15Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.
  • Amos 5:2–3The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.
  • Hos 4:5Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother.
  • Hos 5:12–14Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.
  • Amos 7:17Therefore thus saith the LORD; Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land.
  • Hos 9:11–17As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception.
  • Isa 30:13Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.
  • Amos 9:1–9I saw the LORD standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered.
  • Amos 7:8–9And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the LORD, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more:
  • 2 Kgs 17:6–20In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
  • Amos 3:12Thus saith the LORD; As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear; so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed, and in Damascus in a couch.
  • Mic 1:6–8Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof.
  • Rev 18:10Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
  • Hos 1:9Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.
  • Amos 6:11For, behold, the LORD commandeth, and he will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts.
  • Hos 1:6And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Loruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away.
  • Hos 13:3Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.
  • Rev 18:17For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
  • Isa 3:2–3The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,
  • Hos 1:4And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.
  • Hos 10:15So shall Bethel do unto you because of your great wickedness: in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.
  • Amos 2:14–16Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself:
  • Hos 8:8Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure.
  • Isa 10:17And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day;

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Isaiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Isaiah 9:14YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on IsaiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).

How Isaiah 9:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.