A shoot will come out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots will bear fruit.
⛓ Read Isaiah 11 forward — the whole chapter and its afterlife →Where this passage surfaces again, sorted by the strength of the link. Each kind of reuse — formal quotation, deliberate allusion, faint echo, figural pattern — carries its own mark. Follow any reference to read it in place.
Quotation1
A formal citation — high verbal volume, often introduced by a saying-formula.
The other principal candidate for 'He will be called a Nazarene': the Davidic 'branch' (netzer) springing from Jesse's root. The Hebrew netzer gives a strong consonantal pun on Nazoraios/Nazareth and fits the messianic-shoot theme; explains Matthew's vague 'prophets.' Contested against the Nazirite (Judges 13:5) reading; listed as alt of that entry and here in its own right.
Medium confidenceAllusion4
A deliberate verbal borrowing without a citation formula.
'A shoot from the stump of Jesse, a branch from his roots.' Source for 'the root... of David.' Davidic-messianic root imagery; coherence with Rev 5:5. LXX 'rhiza' matches 'root.'
High confidenceThe Davidic-seed Christology resonates with the shoot from the stump of Jesse, the messianic branch of David's line. Combined with v.10's root of Jesse, it grounds the title in prophetic messianism.
Medium confidenceThe 'root of Jesse' image (15:12) draws on the opening of the same oracle, Isaiah 11:1 (a shoot from the stump of Jesse, a branch from his roots). The whole shoot-of-Jesse messianic complex stands behind the quotation; verbal overlap in 'root/Jesse' makes it a strong allusion supporting the citation.
Medium confidencePaul is denounced as ringleader of 'the sect of the Nazarenes.' The title Nazarene is widely traced to the messianic netzer ('branch') of Isaiah's stump-of-Jesse oracle; the accusation thus carries, ironically, a hidden scriptural-messianic claim. Contested and indirect, voiced by opponents, so low confidence.
Low confidenceEcho6
A fainter, low-volume reuse, carried by recurrence or thematic coherence.
The Davidic-from-Judah origin (‘sprung out of Judah,’ v. 14) faintly sounds the Jesse/David shoot of Isa 11:1. Low verbal volume — the link is conceptual (Messiah from Judah's royal line, not Levi) — but it reinforces the same tribal-displacement logic the pericope is pressing.
Medium confidenceA genealogy that climaxes in a Davidic deliverer resonates with the 'shoot from the stump of Jesse / branch from his roots' messianic hope. Volume low (no shared diction here) but Matthew elsewhere works the Davidic-branch motif; thematic coherence with the royal genealogy is real.
Medium confidenceThe shoot from the stump of Jesse, a messianic seed of David, contributes to the seed-of-David savior expectation. Conceptual messianic background.
Low confidence'A shoot from the stump of Jesse' — Davidic-messianic hope behind the 'son of David' acclamation in 15:22.
Low confidenceThe 'shoot from the stump of Jesse' stands behind the Son-of-David / Davidic-messiah confession; thematic support for the title in 20:30.
Low confidenceThe messianic 'rod out of the stem of Jesse' — Davidic-descent expectation underlying 'whose son is he? ... Of David' (22:42).
Low confidence