Reed/stick/pen
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G2563, kálamos, is a Greek noun for a reed and, by extension, an object made or represented as a reed: a staff, measuring rod, or writing pen. The Gospel sayings begin with a reed moving in the wind, an image of instability that Jesus denies as an adequate description of John.
Reader summary
Full entry for κάλαμος (G2563) · Open the biblical lexicon
G2563, kálamos, is a Greek noun for a reed and, by extension, an object made or represented as a reed: a staff, measuring rod, or writing pen. The Gospel sayings begin with a reed moving in the wind, an image of instability that Jesus denies as an adequate description of John.
The BSB source-word alignment has 12 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include A reed (4), rod (2), a measuring rod (1), a staff (1), pen (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 11:7. Its strongest book concentrations include Matthew (5), Revelation (3), Mark (2), 3 John (1).
G2563, kálamos, is a Greek noun for a reed and, by extension, an object made or represented as a reed: a staff, measuring rod, or writing pen. The Gospel sayings begin with a reed moving in the wind, an image of instability that Jesus denies as an adequate description of John. Matthew then quotes Isaiah's bruised reed to portray the servant's gentleness toward the vulnerable while he brings justice to victory. The same ordinary material can therefore carry different images, and neither passage licenses contempt for physical weakness or emotional distress.
In the passion narratives, soldiers place a reed-like staff in Jesus' hand as part of a mock coronation, take it to strike His head, and later use a reed to lift sour wine. The object participates in humiliation and violence, but the Gospels direct moral responsibility toward the people and systems abusing Jesus, not toward an ethnic group imagined beyond the text. In Revelation a reed-like rod measures the temple and the holy city. Measurement there belongs to apocalyptic symbolism under divine command; it is not a technique for predicting dates, dimensions, or a person's spiritual worth.
Third John uses the word for a pen and contrasts written communication with hoped-for face-to-face conversation. The verse honors writing while recognizing its limits. A message can preserve teaching and reach across distance, but embodied presence can supply tone, mutual response, and relationship that a written medium cannot fully carry. Pastoral use should distinguish the word's concrete senses, protect people represented by the bruised reed, name violence without sensationalism, and use measures and written communications transparently rather than as tools of control.
G2563 moves from a wind-swayed plant and the servant's care for a bruised reed through mock royal violence, a vessel support at the cross, apocalyptic measurement, and an elder's writing pen.
As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the wind?
Jesus' question rejects the idea that John's wilderness ministry was mere instability or spectacle, preparing the crowd to consider the prophet's calling.
After John’s messengers had left, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the wind?
Luke preserves the same reed image after John's messengers leave, keeping the rhetorical question within Jesus' public testimony about John.
A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish, till He leads justice to victory.
The bruised reed belongs to Isaiah's servant portrait and expresses patient gentleness joined to the servant's victorious work of justice.
And they twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on His head. They put a staff in His right hand, knelt down before Him, and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
The soldiers turn a staff into a mock scepter, exposing imperial ridicule as they parody Jesus' kingship.
Then they spit on Him and took the staff and struck Him on the head repeatedly.
The object used for mock honor becomes an instrument of repeated assault, making the scene one of deliberate degradation and violence.
They kept striking His head with a staff and spitting on Him. And they knelt down and bowed before Him.
Mark joins striking, spitting, and mock homage, concentrating responsibility on the soldiers who brutalize the condemned Jesus.
One of them quickly ran and brought a sponge. He filled it with sour wine, put it on a reed, and held it up for Jesus to drink.
A reed carries sour wine to Jesus, functioning as a practical support within the crucifixion scene rather than as a symbolic scepter.
And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine. He put it on a reed and held it up for Jesus to drink, saying, “Leave Him alone. Let us see if Elijah comes to take Him down.”
The reed extends the sponge while a bystander speaks of Elijah, joining the material action to the crowd's misunderstanding and waiting.
I have many things to write to you, but I would prefer not to do so with pen and ink.
The elder can write with pen and ink but prefers embodied conversation, acknowledging both the usefulness and the relational limit of the medium.
Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the number of worshipers there.
A reed-like measuring rod is given with a command to measure, so the action belongs to the vision's symbolic commission rather than human self-appointment.
The angel who spoke with me had a golden measuring rod to measure the city and its gates and walls.
The angel's golden rod measures the city, gates, and walls as part of the revealed New Jerusalem's ordered glory.
The city lies foursquare, with its width the same as its length. And he measured the city with the rod, and all its dimensions were equal—12,000 stadia in length and width and height.
Equal dimensions express the city's perfect form within the vision, not a scale for ranking present communities or calculating a timetable.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. A versatile plant stem: reed, musical pipe, staff, measuring rod, or writing pen depending on context.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
12 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a reed, reed-pen
Read versea reed, reed-pen
Read versea reed, reed-pen
Read versea reed, reed-pen
Read versea reed, reed-pen
Read versea reed, reed-pen
Read versea reed, reed-pen
Read versea reed, reed-pen
Read versea reed, reed-pen
Read versea reed, reed-pen
Read versea reed, reed-pen
Read versea reed, reed-pen
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 4 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
κάλαμος is of uncertain origin - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
G2563 demonstrates how context governs a word's sense. A living reed can sway in the wind, a bruised reed can picture a vulnerable person whom the servant refuses to crush, a reed-made staff can parody kingship and become a weapon, a reed can support a sponge, a rod can measure within an apocalypse, and a pen can carry an elder's words. The material resemblance does not merge these scenes into one symbol.
Jesus' servant ministry joins gentleness with justice, so care for wounded people is neither indifference to evil nor permission to keep them exposed to harm. The passion accounts call the church to name humiliation and violence honestly while refusing anti-Jewish blame that ignores the narratives' Roman actors, varied crowds, disciples, and universal theological horizon.
Revelation's measurements belong to John's vision of divine ownership and holy order, not modern date setting. Third John reminds leaders to write responsibly and to recognize when difficult matters require safe, accountable conversation rather than text alone.
Matt.12.20
G2563 denotes a reed and extends naturally to reed-derived objects such as a staff, measuring rod, or pen. The BSB's varied renderings reflect concrete function in each context rather than unrelated lexical identities.
Matthew's bruised-reed language comes from Isaiah's servant song and locates gentleness within God's mission of justice to the nations. Revelation's measuring imagery recalls prophetic temple and city visions, while the passion's mock staff exposes the contrast between coercive rule and Jesus' suffering kingship.