Branch

A branch can mean a living thing doing well or one cut off. “The righteous shall flourish as a branch” (Proverbs 11:28), says one verse, and Jesus warns that a branch that does not stay in him “is withered” (John 15:6). The prophets also use Branch as a name for a coming king: “I will raise unto David a righteous Branch” (Jeremiah 23:5), and Isaiah 11:1 says one “shall grow out of his roots.” Christians have long read those as pointing to Jesus. Paul turns the picture to the church in Romans 11, where branches are broken off and grafted in. Start at Romans 11:17.

20 verses

Psalms

Psalms 80:15

And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself.

Proverbs

Proverbs 11:28

He that trusteth in his riches shall fall: but the righteous shall flourish as a branch.

Isaiah

Isaiah 4:2

In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.

Isaiah 11:1

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:

Isaiah 18:5

For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches.

Isaiah 60:21

Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.

Jeremiah

Jeremiah 23:5

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

Jeremiah 33:15

In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.

Daniel

Daniel 4:14

He cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches:

Hosea

Hosea 14:6

His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.

Zechariah

Zechariah 3:8

Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.

John

John 15:6

If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

Romans

Romans 11:17

And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;

Romans 11:18

Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.

Romans 11:19

Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.

Romans 11:20

Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:

Romans 11:21

For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.

Romans 11:22

Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

Romans 11:23

And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.

Romans 11:24

For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

A symbol of kings descended from royal ancestors (Ezek. 17:3, 10; Dan. 11:7); of prosperity (Job 8:16); of the Messiah, a branch out of the root of the stem of Jesse (Isa. 11:1), the “beautiful branch” (4:2), a “righteous branch” (Jer. 23:5), “the Branch” (Zech. 3:8; 6:12).

Disciples are branches of the true vine (John 15:5, 6). “The branch of the terrible ones” (Isa. 25:5) is rightly translated in the Revised Version “the song of the terrible ones,” i.e., the song of victory shall be brought low by the destruction of Babylon and the return of the Jews from captivity.

The “abominable branch” is a tree on which a malefactor has been hanged (Isa. 14:19). The “highest branch” in Ezek. 17:3 represents Jehoiakim the king.

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Based on Nave's Topical Bible by Orville J. Nave (1896). Dictionary entries from Easton's Bible Dictionary. Public domain. KJV scripture text, public domain.