Hebrew word · H3712

כִּפָּה

kipah

branch

A palm branch or frond, especially the curved frond of the date palm. Probably from a root meaning 'to bend, curve' (compare kaph, 'palm of the hand, curved hollow'). It occurs only in Isa 9:14; 19:15; Job 15:32 ('his kippah will not be green').

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

branch, leaf, frond, palm frond, palm branch

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Isaiah 9:14

Range of meaning

A palm branch or frond, especially the curved frond of the date palm. Probably from a root meaning 'to bend, curve' (compare kaph, 'palm of the hand, curved hollow'). It occurs only in Isa 9:14; 19:15; Job 15:32 ('his kippah will not be green').

Against the English

KJV 'branch', and YLT's capitalised 'Branch', suggest an ordinary tree limb, or even the messianic 'Branch' of Isa 11:1, Jer 23:5 and Zech 3:8. Those passages use entirely different words (netser, tsemach). 'Palm frond/branch' (BSB, WEB) is more precise.

How it drifted

In 1611 'branch' was simply the general word available. Later, Christian use of 'the Branch' as a title for Christ gave the English word a messianic ring that kippah never had.

Used elsewhere in the period

HALOT and BDB both give 'palm branch'. The Septuagint does not translate the picture but explains it as megan, 'great'. The Vulgate reads it as a description, incurvantem ('bending'), apparently from the root meaning 'bend'.

Where it appears

Job · 1

  1. Job 15:32 וְ֝כִפָּת֗וֹ and palm branch his

    It will be paid in full before his time, and his branch will not flourish.

Isaiah · 2

  1. Isaiah 9:14 כִּפָּ֥ה palm branch

    So the LORD will cut off Israel’s head and tail, both palm branch and reed in a single day.

    Here: The curved frond at the crown of a date palm, high up and conspicuous. It restates 'head' with a picture from plants. This is not the 'Branch' that later becomes a title for the Messiah.

  2. Isaiah 19:15 כִּפָּ֥ה palm branch

    There is nothing Egypt can do—head or tail, palm or reed.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.