staff
mish.e.net denotes a staff used in hand or walking, and in images of support that can fail.
The attested uses chiefly concern a tangible staff carried, held, used while walking, or employed in an action; a smaller group uses the staff-and-reed image to portray Egypt as support that injures or fails those who lean on it.
Senses in use
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A handheld staff for walking or action · dominant
Construct singular forms occur in scenes of carrying or using a staff: in 2 Kings 4:29 the APB renders the instruction to take and set the staff, and in Exodus 21:19 it renders a wounded person walking upon a staff. In Judges 6:21 and 2 Kings 4:31, absolute singular forms occur where the staff is extended or set on the youth's face; in Numbers 21:18 the plural construct form occurs in the excavation of a well “with their staffs.”
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A reed-staff image of unreliable support · occasional
The singular construct form is used in an image applied to Egypt. In 2 Kings 18:21 and Isaiah 36:6, the APB renders trust in Egypt as leaning on a crushed reed-staff that enters and pierces the hand; in Ezekiel 29:6 it renders Egypt as “a staff of reed” to Israel.
In the Anselm Project Bible: Across these verses, the APB commonly presents the relevant clause with “staff,” including a staff taken in hand, set on the youth, or used for walking; Numbers 21:18 has “staffs.” In the Egypt passages it expands the image as a crushed reed or “a staff of reed,”.