Wormwood

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

לעגה ,  Deuteronomy 29:18;  Proverbs 5:4;  Jeremiah 9:15;  Jeremiah 23:15;  Lamentations 3:15;  Lamentations 3:19;  Amos 5:7;  Amos 6:12; αψινθον ,  Revelation 8:11 . In the Septuagint the original word is variously rendered, and generally by terms expressive of its figurative sense, for what is offensive, odious, or deleterious; but in the Syriac and Arabic versions, and in the Latin Vulgate, it is rendered "wormwood;" and this is adopted by Celsius, who names it the absinthium santonicum Judaicum, [bitter wormwood of Judea.] From the passages of Scripture, however, where this plant is mentioned, something more than the bitterness of its qualities seems to be intimated, and effects are attributed to it greater than can be produced by the wormwood of Europe. The Chaldee paraphrase gives it even the character of "the wormwood of death." It may therefore mean a plant allied, perhaps, to the absinthium in appearance and in taste, but possessing more nauseous, hurtful, and formidable properties.

Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types

 Jeremiah 9:15 (b) This is certainly a description of the bitterness which comes into the soul of those who refuse to worship the Lord, and who reject His Word. (See also  Jeremiah 23:15).

 Lamentations 3:15 (b) By this we understand the great depression of spirit, and the bitterness of soul which was experienced by Jeremiah, the prophet, when he was so cruelly rejected by Israel.

 Amos 5:7 (a) The judgments of God were so severe, and Israel was so evil in their minds, that they were made bitter by GOD's decisions against them.

 Revelation 8:11 (b) The curses of God, which He will send upon this earth, are bitter to the heart and the soul of His enemies. He will make the so-called pleasures and attraction of the world bitter and offensive in the eyes of those who indulge in them.

 Revelation 17:3 (b) The Lord represents apostate Christendom as the woman. She grows wealthy, proud, arrogant, wicked and tremendously powerful by her demands upon people, and her control of the heads of government.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

laanah, ἄψινθος. This occurs in scripture only in a metaphorical sense. Turning to idolatry is compared to being a root that beareth gall and wormwood.  Deuteronomy 29:18 . Some turned 'judgement to wormwood,' probably alluding to the unrighteous judges.  Amos 5:7 . Because of the wickedness of His people, God said He would feed them with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.  Jeremiah 9:15;  Jeremiah 23:15 . Jeremiah, in lamenting over the condition of Israel, compared it to being drunk with wormwood.  Lamentations 3:15,19 . On the sounding of the third trumpet in the Revelation, a star named Wormwood fell from heaven, and the third part of the waters were turned to wormwood, of which many men died: the moral sources of life will become destructive.  Revelation 8:10,11 . There are several species in Palestine: the Artemisia absinthium and A. chinensis are the wormwood of commerce.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

lanah , genus Αrtemisia . Four species in Palestine: Nilotica, Judaica, Fruticosa, and Cinerea. Metaphorical for bitter sorrow ( Jeremiah 9:15, fulfilled in  Lamentations 3:15;  Lamentations 3:19); and evil with its bitter produce, or an apostate lurking in Israel and tainting others ( Deuteronomy 29:18;  Proverbs 5:4;  Amos 5:7, rendered "hemlock"; Greek apsinthos;  Revelation 8:11, the star which at the third trumpet fell upon the rivers and made them wormwood). Wormwood, though medicinal, if used as ordinary water would be fatal; heretical wormwood changes the sweet Siloas of Scripture into deadly Marahs (Wordsworth); contrast  Exodus 15:23, etc. Absinthe is literally embittering and destroying many hundreds of thousands in France and Switzerland.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Wormwood. Four kinds of wormwood are found in Palestine - Artemisia nilotica , Artemisia Judaica , Artemisia fructicosa and Artemisia cinerea . The word occurs frequently in the Bible, and generally in a metaphorical sense.

In  Jeremiah 9:15;  Jeremiah 23:15;  Lamentations 3:15;  Lamentations 3:19, wormwood is symbolical of bitter calamity and sorrow ; unrighteous judges are said to "turn judgment to wormwood."  Amos 5:7 The Orientals typified sorrows, cruelties and calamities of any kind by plants of a poisonous or bitter nature .

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Wormwood ( la‘ăn âh ,   Deuteronomy 29:18 ,   Proverbs 5:4 ,   Jeremiah 9:16;   Jeremiah 23:16 ,   Lamentations 3:15-16 ,   Amos 5:7;   Amos 6:12 [in the last Av [Note: Authorized Version.] tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘hemlock’ ]; Gr. apsinthos ,   Revelation 8:11 ). la‘ăn âh was some bitter substance usually associated with gall (wh. see); it is used metaphorically for calamity and sorrow. Tradition favours some species of Artemisia (wormwood), of which several kinds are found in Palestine.

E. W. G. Masterman.

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

1: ἄψινθος (Strong'S #894 — Noun Feminine — apsinthos — ap'-sin-thos )

(Eng., "absinthe"), a plant both bitter and deleterious, and growing in desolate places, figuratively suggestive of "calamity" ( Lamentations 3:15 ) and injustice ( Amos 5:7 ), is used in  Revelation 8:11 (twice; in the 1st part as a proper name).

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

 Lamentations 3:15 , an intensely bitter and poisonous plant, a symbol for whatever is nauseous and destructive,  Deuteronomy 29:18   Jeremiah 9:15 . The fruits of vicious indulgence are "better as wormwood,"  Proverbs 5:3; and injustice and oppression are like wormwood and gall,  Amos 5:7   6:12 .

The Chaldee paraphrase calls it "the wormwood of death." In  Revelation 8:10-11 , the star called wormwood seems to denote a mighty prince, or power of the air, the instrument, in its fall, of sore judgments on large numbers of the wicked. Compare  Daniel 10:20-21   Isaiah 14:12 .

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Wormwood. At least five species of this plant (Artemisia) are found in the Holy Land, and are distinguished for intense bitterness. Hence this word is often joined with or used in the same sense as "gall" and "hemlock," to denote what is offensive and nauseous.  Deuteronomy 29:18;  Proverbs 5:4;  Amos 5:7;  Amos 6:12. To be obliged to use it as food expresses the extreme of suffering.  Jeremiah 9:15;  Jeremiah 23:15;  Lamentations 3:15;  Lamentations 3:19.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Deuteronomy 29:18 Proverbs 5:4 Jeremiah 9:15 Amos 5:7 Amos 6:12  Revelation 8:10,11

The name by which the Greeks designated it, absinthion, means "undrinkable." The absinthe of France is distilled from a species of this plant. The "southernwood" or "old man," cultivated in cottage gardens on account of its fragrance, is another species of it.

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) A composite plant (Artemisia Absinthium), having a bitter and slightly aromatic taste, formerly used as a tonic and a vermifuge, and to protect woolen garments from moths. It gives the peculiar flavor to the cordial called absinthe. The volatile oil is a narcotic poison. The term is often extended to other species of the same genus.

(2): ( n.) Anything very bitter or grievous; bitterness.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Amos 5:7 Jeremiah 23:15 Jeremiah 8:10-11

King James Dictionary

Wormwood, n. G. A plant, the artemisia. It has a bitter nauseous taste but it is stomachic and corroborant.

Tree-wormwood, a species of Artemisia, with woody stalks.

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

Wormwood. —See Gall.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Fig. 349—Wormwood—Artemisia Judaica

This proverbially bitter plant is used in the Hebrew, as in most other languages, metaphorically, to denote the moral bitterness of distress and trouble (; ; ; ; ; ; ; ). Thence also the name given to the fatal star in . Artemisia is the botanical name of the genus of plants in which the different species of wormwoods are found. The plants of this genus are easily recognized by the multitude of fine divisions into which the leaves are usually separated, and the numerous clusters of small, round, drooping, greenish-yellow or brownish flower-heads with which the branches are laden. It must be understood that our common wormwood does not appear to exist in Palestine, and cannot therefore be that specially denoted by the Scriptural term. Indeed it is more than probable that the word is intended to apply to all the plants of this class that grew in Palestine, rather than to anyone of them in particular. The examples of this genus that have been found in that country are:—

Artemisia Judaica, which, if a particular species be intended, is probably the Absinthium of Scripture. Rauwolff found it about Bethlehem, and Shaw in Arabia and the deserts of Numidia plentifully. This plant is erect and shrubby, with stem about eighteen inches high. Its taste is very bitter; and both the leaves and seeds are much used in Eastern medicine, and are reputed to be tonic, stomachic, and anthelmintic.

Artemisia Romana, which was found by Hasselquist on Mount Tabor. This species is herbaceous, erect, with stem one or two feet high (higher when cultivated in gardens), and nearly upright branches. The plant has a pleasantly aromatic scent; and the bitterness of its taste is so tempered by the aromatic flavor as scarcely to be disagreeable.

Artemisia abrotanum, found in the south of Europe, as well as in Syria and Palestine, and eastward even to China. This is a hoary plant, becoming a shrub in warm countries; and its branches bear loose panicles of nodding yellow flower-heads. It is bitter and aromatic, with a very strong scent. It is not much used in medicine; but the branches are employed in imparting a yellow dye to wool.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

wûrm´wood ( לענה , la‛ănāh (  Deuteronomy 29:18;  Proverbs 5:4;  Jeremiah 9:15;  Jeremiah 23:15;  Lamentations 3:15 ,  Lamentations 3:19;  Amos 5:7;  Amos 6:12 , the King James Version hemlock ); ἄψινθος , ápsinthos ( Revelation 8:11 )): What the Hebrew la‛ănāh may have been is obscure; it is clear it was a bitter substance and it is usually associated with "gall"; in the Septuagint it is variously translated, but never by apsinthos , "wormwood." Nevertheless all ancient tradition supports the English Versions of the Bible translation. The genus Artemisia (Natural Order Compositae ), "wormwood," has five species of shrubs or herbs found in Palestine (Post), any one of which may furnish a bitter taste. The name is derived from the property of many species acting as anthelmintics, while other varieties are used in the manufacture of absinthe.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

Bibliography Information McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Wormwood'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/w/wormwood.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.