Nardostachys jatamansi (Wall) DC, Spikenard, Nard, Hebrew: nerd, נרד, Arabic: مرهم النردين مرهم عطري
Derivation of the botanical name: nard from Latin nardus, from Ancient Greek νάρδος (nárdos), borrowed from a Semitic language, where it was borrowed from Sanskrit नरद (nárada, "Indian spikenard") and from L. spica "ear of grain."

1. Song of Solomon 4:13
   Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, with henna and nard,
2. Song of Solomon 4:14
   nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree, with myrrh and aloes and all the finest spices.
3. Mark 14:3
   While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.
4. John 12:3
   Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. Also improperly known as spikenard (from Latin spica, head of grain, and nardi), this hardy herb, a member of the Valerianaceae family, grows in the foothills of the Himalayas. The part of the plant growing underground has the appearance of a fibrous spindle, and is rich in the precious essential oil.

Go To Top
Nerium oleander, Oleander, Hebrew: הרדוף הנחלים, Arabic: دفلى, Diflà
Ardath seems to be cognate with ardaf, the Hebrew name for the oleander (הרדוף, harduf in modern Hebrew)

1. 2 Esdras 9:26
   So I went my way into the field which is called Ardath, like as he commanded me; and there I sat among the flowers, and did eat of the herbs of the field, and the meat of the same satisfied me.
2. Book of Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus) 24:18
   I was exalted like a palm tree in Cades, and as a rose plant in Jericho:
3. Book of Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus) 39:17
   By a voice he saith: Hear me, ye divine offspring, and bud forth as the rose planted by the brooks of waters.

Go To Top
Nymphaea alba, White Water-Lily,Hebrew: נימפיאה לבנה, Arabic: زنبق الماء
According to Othmar Keel (Fribourg, Switzerland), 'The Hebrew word שושנה or שושן (shoshana or shoshan) is borrowed from Egypt, where it clearly means the water lily or lotus... The Bible reports that the brim of the molten sea took the shape of the Shoshan (I Kings 7:26). Vessels in the form of lotus blossoms are known both on Egypt and in Israel but there are none in the form of lilies. One also reads of capitals in 'shoshan' form (I Kings 7:19,22). All kinds of lotus capitals have been found, but no lily capitals...Translators of the Hebrew Bible into Greek rendered שושנה, shoshana with κρίνον (lily).'

1. 1 Kings 7:19
   The capitals which were on top of the pillars in the hall were in the shape of lilies, four cubits.
2. 1 Kings 7:22
   The tops of the pillars were in the shape of lilies. So the work of the pillars was finished.
3. 1 Kings 7:26
   It was a handbreadth thick; and its brim was shaped like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It contained two thousand baths.
4. 2 Chronicles 4:5
   It was a handbreadth thick; and its brim was shaped like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It contained three thousand baths.

Go To Top
Olea europaea, Olivetree, Hebrew: זית אירופי, Arabic: زيتون, Zaytun
The olive is one of the Biblical Seven Species, with which Eretz Yisrael is blessed: "a land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs and pomegranates, and land of olive trees and honey" (Deuteronomy, 8.8).
The olive branch was an ancient symbol of peace

1. Genesis 8:11
   When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth.
2. Exodus 23:11
   but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what is left. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.
3. Exodus 25:6
   olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense;
4. Exodus 27:20
   [ Oil for the Lampstand ] “Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning.
5. Exodus 29:2
   And from the finest wheat flour make round loaves without yeast, thick loaves without yeast and with olive oil mixed in, and thin loaves without yeast and brushed with olive oil.
6. Exodus 29:23
   From the basket of bread made without yeast, which is before the LORD, take one round loaf, one thick loaf with olive oil mixed in, and one thin loaf.
7. Exodus 29:40
   With the first lamb offer a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of oil from pressed olives, and a quarter of a hin of wine as a drink offering.
8. Exodus 30:24
   500 shekels of cassia—all according to the sanctuary shekel—and a hin of olive oil.
9. Exodus 35:8
   olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense;
10. Exodus 35:28
    They also brought spices and olive oil for the light and for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense.
11. Exodus 39:37
    the pure gold lampstand with its row of lamps and all its accessories, and the olive oil for the light;
12. Leviticus 2:1
    [ The Grain Offering ] “‘When anyone brings a grain offering to the LORD, their offering is to be of the finest flour. They are to pour olive oil on it, put incense on it
13. Leviticus 2:4
    “‘If you bring a grain offering baked in an oven, it is to consist of the finest flour: either thick loaves made without yeast and with olive oil mixed in or thin loaves made without yeast and brushed with olive oil.
14. Leviticus 2:7
    If your grain offering is cooked in a pan, it is to be made of the finest flour and some olive oil.
15. Leviticus 5:11
    “‘If, however, they cannot afford two doves or two young pigeons, they are to bring as an offering for their sin a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour for a sin offering. They must not put olive oil or incense on it, because it is a sin offering.
16. Leviticus 6:15
    The priest is to take a handful of the finest flour and some olive oil, together with all the incense on the grain offering, and burn the memorial portion on the altar as an aroma pleasing to the LORD.
17. Leviticus 7:10
    and every grain offering, whether mixed with olive oil or dry, belongs equally to all the sons of Aaron.
18. Leviticus 7:12
    “‘If they offer it as an expression of thankfulness, then along with this thank offering they are to offer thick loaves made without yeast and with olive oil mixed in, thin loaves made without yeast and brushed with oil, and thick loaves of the finest flour well-kneaded and with oil mixed in.
19. Leviticus 8:26
    And from the basket of bread made without yeast, which was before the LORD, he took one thick loaf, one thick loaf with olive oil mixed in, and one thin loaf, and he put these on the fat portions and on the right thigh.
20. Leviticus 9:4
    and an ox and a ram for a fellowship offering to sacrifice before the LORD, together with a grain offering mixed with olive oil. For today the LORD will appear to you.’”
21. Leviticus 14:10
    “On the eighth day they must bring two male lambs and one ewe lamb a year old, each without defect, along with three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering, and one log of oil.
22. Leviticus 14:21
    “If, however, they are poor and cannot afford these, they must take one male lamb as a guilt offering to be waved to make atonement for them, together with a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering, a log of oil,
23. Leviticus 23:13
    together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil—a food offering presented to the LORD, a pleasing aroma—and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine.
24. Leviticus 24:1
    [ Olive Oil and Bread Set Before the LORD ] The LORD said to Moses,
25. Leviticus 24:2
    “Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning continually.
26. Numbers 4:9
    “They are to take a blue cloth and cover the lampstand that is for light, together with its lamps, its wick trimmers and trays, and all its jars for the olive oil used to supply it.
27. Numbers 5:15
    then he is to take his wife to the priest. He must also take an offering of a tenth of an ephah of barley flour on her behalf. He must not pour olive oil on it or put incense on it, because it is a grain offering for jealousy, a reminder-offering to draw attention to wrongdoing.
28. Numbers 6:15
    together with their grain offerings and drink offerings, and a basket of bread made with the finest flour and without yeast—thick loaves with olive oil mixed in, and thin loaves brushed with olive oil.
29. Numbers 7:13
    His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with the finest flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering;
30. Numbers 7:19
    The offering he brought was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with the finest flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering;
31. Numbers 7:25
    His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with the finest flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering;
32. Numbers 7:31
    His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with the finest flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering;
33. Numbers 7:37
    His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with the finest flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering;
34. Numbers 7:43
    His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with the finest flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering;
35. Numbers 7:49
    His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with the finest flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering;
36. Numbers 7:55
    His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with the finest flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering;
37. Numbers 7:61
    His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with the finest flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering;
38. Numbers 7:67
    His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with the finest flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering;
39. Numbers 7:73
    His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with the finest flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering;
40. Numbers 7:79
    His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with the finest flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering;
41. Numbers 8:8
    Have them take a young bull with its grain offering of the finest flour mixed with olive oil; then you are to take a second young bull for a sin offering.
42. Numbers 11:8
    The people went around gathering it, and then ground it in a hand mill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into loaves. And it tasted like something made with olive oil.
43. Numbers 15:4
    then the person who brings an offering shall present to the LORD a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of olive oil.
44. Numbers 15:6
    “‘With a ram prepare a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with a third of a hin of olive oil,
45. Numbers 15:9
    bring with the bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with half a hin of olive oil,
46. Numbers 18:12
    “I give you all the finest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain they give the LORD as the firstfruits of their harvest.
47. Numbers 28:5
    together with a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of oil from pressed olives.
48. Numbers 28:9
    [ Sabbath Offerings ] “‘On the Sabbath day, make an offering of two lambs a year old without defect, together with its drink offering and a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil.
49. Numbers 29:3
    With the bull offer a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil; with the ram, two-tenths ;
50. Deuteronomy 6:11
    houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied,
51. Deuteronomy 7:13
    He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land—your grain, new wine and olive oil—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.
52. Deuteronomy 8:8
    a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey;
53. Deuteronomy 11:14
    then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil.
54. Deuteronomy 12:17
    You must not eat in your own towns the tithe of your grain and new wine and olive oil, or the firstborn of your herds and flocks, or whatever you have vowed to give, or your freewill offerings or special gifts.
55. Deuteronomy 14:23
    Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always.
56. Deuteronomy 18:4
    You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the first wool from the shearing of your sheep,
57. Deuteronomy 24:20
    When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow.
58. Deuteronomy 28:40
    You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off. D
59. Deuteronomy 28:51
    They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or olive oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined.
60. Joshua 24:13
    So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’
61. Judges 9:8
    One day the trees went out to anoint a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king.’
62. Judges 9:9
    “But the olive tree answered, ‘Should I give up my oil, by which both gods and humans are honored, to hold sway over the trees?’
63. Judges 15:5
    lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.
64. 1 Samuel 8:14
    He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants.
65. 1 Samuel 10:1
    Then Samuel took a flask of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him, saying, “Has not the LORD anointed you ruler over his inheritance?
66. 2 Samuel 15:30
    But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went; his head was covered and he was barefoot. All the people with him covered their heads too and were weeping as they went up.
67. 1 Kings 5:11
    and Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat as food for his household, in addition to twenty thousand baths of pressed olive oil. Solomon continued to do this for Hiram year after year.
68. 1 Kings 6:23
    For the inner sanctuary he made a pair of cherubim out of olive wood, each ten cubits high.
69. 1 Kings 6:31
    For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors out of olive wood that were one fifth of the width of the sanctuary.
70. 1 Kings 6:32
    And on the two olive-wood doors he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with hammered gold.
71. 1 Kings 6:33
    In the same way, for the entrance to the main hall he made doorframes out of olive wood that were one fourth of the width of the hall.
72. 1 Kings 17:12
    “As surely as the LORD your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”
73. 2 Kings 4:1
    [ The Widow’s Olive Oil ] The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the LORD. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.” 2
74. 2 Kings 4:2
    Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?” “Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.”
75. 2 Kings 5:26
    But Elisha said to him, “Was not my spirit with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to take money or to accept clothes—or olive groves and vineyards, or flocks and herds, or male and female slaves?
76. 2 Kings 9:1
    [ Jehu Anointed King of Israel ] The prophet Elisha summoned a man from the company of the prophets and said to him, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take this flask of olive oil with you and go to Ramoth Gilead.
77. 2 Kings 18:32
    until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Choose life and not death! “Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’
78. 2 Kings 20:13
    Hezekiah received the envoys and showed them all that was in his storehouses—the silver, the gold, the spices and the fine olive oil—his armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.
79. 1 Chronicles 9:29
    Others were assigned to take care of the furnishings and all the other articles of the sanctuary, as well as the special flour and wine, and the olive oil, incense and spices.
80. 1 Chronicles 12:40
    Also, their neighbors from as far away as Issachar, Zebulun and Naphtali came bringing food on donkeys, camels, mules and oxen. There were plentiful supplies of flour, fig cakes, raisin cakes, wine, olive oil, cattle and sheep, for there was joy in Israel.
81. 1 Chronicles 27:28
    Baal-Hanan the Gederite was in charge of the olive and sycamore-fig trees in the western foothills. Joash was in charge of the supplies of olive oil.
82. 2 Chronicles 2:10
    I will give your servants, the woodsmen who cut the timber, twenty thousand cors of ground wheat, twenty thousand cors of barley, twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oil.”
83. 2 Chronicles 2:15
    “Now let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised,
84. 2 Chronicles 11:11
    He strengthened their defenses and put commanders in them, with supplies of food, olive oil and wine.
85. 2 Chronicles 31:5
    As soon as the order went out, the Israelites generously gave the firstfruits of their grain, new wine, olive oil and honey and all that the fields produced. They brought a great amount, a tithe of everything.
86. 2 Chronicles 32:28
    He also made buildings to store the harvest of grain, new wine and olive oil; and he made stalls for various kinds of cattle, and pens for the flocks.
87. Ezra 3:7
    [ Rebuilding the Temple ] Then they gave money to the masons and carpenters, and gave food and drink and olive oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre, so that they would bring cedar logs by sea from Lebanon to Joppa, as authorized by Cyrus king of Persia.
88. Ezra 6:9
    Whatever is needed—young bulls, rams, male lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine and olive oil, as requested by the priests in Jerusalem—must be given them daily without fail,
89. Ezra 7:22
    up to a hundred talents of silver, a hundred cors of wheat, a hundred baths of wine, a hundred baths of olive oil, and salt without limit.
90. Nehemiah 5:11
    Give back to them immediately their fields, vineyards, olive groves and houses, and also the interest you are charging them—one percent of the money, grain, new wine and olive oil.”
91. Nehemiah 8:15
    and that they should proclaim this word and spread it throughout their towns and in Jerusalem: “Go out into the hill country and bring back branches from olive and wild olive trees, and from myrtles, palms and shade trees, to make temporary shelters”—as it is written.
92. Nehemiah 9:25
    They captured fortified cities and fertile land; they took possession of houses filled with all kinds of good things, wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves and fruit trees in abundance. They ate to the full and were well-nourished; they reveled in your great goodness.
93. Nehemiah 10:37
    “Moreover, we will bring to the storerooms of the house of our God, to the priests, the first of our ground meal, of our grain offerings, of the fruit of all our trees and of our new wine and olive oil. And we will bring a tithe of our crops to the Levites, for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all the towns where we work.
94. Nehemiah 10:39
    The people of Israel, including the Levites, are to bring their contributions of grain, new wine and olive oil to the storerooms, where the articles for the sanctuary and for the ministering priests, the gatekeepers and the musicians are also kept. “We will not neglect the house of our God.”
95. Nehemiah 13:5
    and he had provided him with a large room formerly used to store the grain offerings and incense and temple articles, and also the tithes of grain, new wine and olive oil prescribed for the Levites, musicians and gatekeepers, as well as the contributions for the priests.
96. Nehemiah 13:12
    All Judah brought the tithes of grain, new wine and olive oil into the storerooms.
97. Job 15:33
    He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes, like an olive tree shedding its blossoms.
98. Job 24:11
    They crush olives among the terraces ; they tread the winepresses, yet suffer thirst.
99. Job 29:6
    when my path was drenched with cream and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil.
100. Psalm 52:8
     But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever.
101. Psalm 128:3
     Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table.
102. Proverbs 21:17
     Whoever loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and olive oil will never be rich.
103. Proverbs 21:20
     The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down.
104. Isaiah 1:6
     From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness— only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with olive oil.
105. Isaiah 17:6
     Yet some gleanings will remain, as when an olive tree is beaten, leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches, four or five on the fruitful boughs,” declares the LORD, the God of Israel.
106. Isaiah 24:13
     So will it be on the earth and among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest.
107. Isaiah 39:2
     Hezekiah received the envoys gladly and showed them what was in his storehouses—the silver, the gold, the spices, the fine olive oil—his entire armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.
108. Isaiah 41:19
     I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set junipers in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together,
109. Isaiah 57:9
     You went to Molek with olive oil and increased your perfumes. You sent your ambassadors far away; you descended to the very realm of the dead!
110. Jeremiah 11:16
     The LORD called you a thriving olive tree with fruit beautiful in form. But with the roar of a mighty storm he will set it on fire, and its branches will be broken.
111. Jeremiah 31:12
     They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will rejoice in the bounty of the LORD— the grain, the new wine and the olive oil, the young of the flocks and herds. They will be like a well-watered garden, and they will sorrow no more.
112. Jeremiah 40:10
     I myself will stay at Mizpah to represent you before the Babylonians who come to us, but you are to harvest the wine, summer fruit and olive oil, and put them in your storage jars, and live in the towns you have taken over.”
113. Jeremiah 41:8
     But ten of them said to Ishmael, “Don’t kill us! We have wheat and barley, olive oil and honey, hidden in a field.” So he let them alone and did not kill them with the others.
114. Ezekiel 16:13
     So you were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were of fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered cloth. Your food was honey, olive oil and the finest flour. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen.
115. Ezekiel 16:19
     Also the food I provided for you—the flour, olive oil and honey I gave you to eat—you offered as fragrant incense before them. That is what happened, declares the Sovereign LORD.
116. Ezekiel 23:41
     You sat on an elegant couch, with a table spread before it on which you had placed the incense and olive oil that belonged to me.
117. Ezekiel 27:17
     “‘Judah and Israel traded with you; they exchanged wheat from Minnith and confections, honey, olive oil and balm for your wares.
118. Ezekiel 45:14
     The prescribed portion of olive oil, measured by the bath, is a tenth of a bath from each cor (which consists of ten baths or one homer, for ten baths are equivalent to a homer).
119. Ezekiel 45:24
     He is to provide as a grain offering an ephah for each bull and an ephah for each ram, along with a hin of olive oil for each ephah.
120. Ezekiel 46:5
     The grain offering given with the ram is to be an ephah, and the grain offering with the lambs is to be as much as he pleases, along with a hin of olive oil for each ephah.
121. Hosea 2:5
     Their mother has been unfaithful and has conceived them in disgrace. She said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my food and my water, my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink.’
122. Hosea 2:22
     and the earth will respond to the grain, the new wine and the olive oil, and they will respond to Jezreel.
123. Hosea 12:1
     Ephraim feeds on the wind; he pursues the east wind all day and multiplies lies and violence. He makes a treaty with Assyria and sends olive oil to Egypt.
124. Hosea 14:6
     his young shoots will grow. His splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.
125. Joel 1:10
     The fields are ruined, the ground is dried up; the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the olive oil fails.
126. Joel 2:19
     The LORD replied to them: “I am sending you grain, new wine and olive oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations.
127. Amos 4:9
     “Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards, destroying them with blight and mildew. Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the LORD.
128. Micah 6:7
     Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
129. Micah 6:15
     You will plant but not harvest; you will press olives but not use the oil, you will crush grapes but not drink the wine.
130. Habakkuk 3:17
     Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,
131. Haggai 1:11
     I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”
132. Haggai 2:12
     If someone carries consecrated meat in the fold of their garment, and that fold touches some bread or stew, some wine, olive oil or other food, does it become consecrated?’” The priests answered, “No.”
133. Haggai 2:19
     Is there yet any seed left in the barn? Until now, the vine and the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not borne fruit. “‘From this day on I will bless you.’”
134. Zechariah 4:1
     [ The Gold Lampstand and the Two Olive Trees ] Then the angel who talked with me returned and woke me up, like someone awakened from sleep.
135. Zechariah 4:3
     Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.”
136. Zechariah 4:11
     Then I asked the angel, “What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?”
137. Zechariah 4:12
     Again I asked him, “What are these two olive branches beside the two gold pipes that pour out golden oil?”
138. Zechariah 14:4
     On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.

Go To Top
Phoenix dactylifera, Date Palm, Arabic: Tamr تمر, Hebrew: תמר מצוי
The Hebrew word for the date palm is “tàmâr” or “temarim” (Greek, Φοῖνιξ) It became the Jews’ symbol of grace and elegance and was often bestowed by them to women, as, for instance, the daughter of King David, (sister of Absalom) in allusion to their graceful upright carriage. A closed frond of the date palm tree is called the Lulav (Hebrew: לולב). It is one of the Four Species (arba'ah minim - ארבעה מינים; Leviticus 23:40) used in the daily prayer services during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

1. Exodus 15:27
   Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.
2. Leviticus 23:40
   On the first day you are to take choice fruit from the trees, and palm fronds, leafy branches and poplars, and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.
3. Numbers 33:9
   They left Marah and went to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there.
4. Deuteronomy 34:3
   the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar.
5. Judges 1:16
   The descendants of Moses' father-in-law, the Kenite, went up from the City of Palms with the men of Judah to live among the people of the Desert of Judah in the Negev near Arad.
6. Judges 3:13
   
7. Getting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join him, Eglon came and attacked Israel, and they took possession of the City of Palms.
8. 2 Samuel 6:19
   Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes.
9. 1 Kings 6:29
   On the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer rooms, he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers.
10. 1 Kings 6:32
    And on the two olive wood doors he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with beaten gold.
11. 1 Kings 6:35
    He carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers on them and overlaid them with gold hammered evenly over the carvings.
12. 1 Kings 7:36
    He engraved cherubim, lions and palm trees on the surfaces of the supports and on the panels, in every available space, with wreaths all around.
13. 1 Chronicles 16:3
    Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each Israelite man and woman.
14. 2 Chronicles 3:5
    He paneled the main hall with pine and covered it with fine gold and decorated it with palm tree and chain designs.
15. 2 Chronicles 28:15
    The men designated by name took the prisoners, and from the plunder they clothed all who were naked. They provided them with clothes and sandals, food and drink, and healing balm. All those who were weak they put on donkeys. So they took them back to their fellow countrymen at Jericho, the City of Palms, and returned to Samaria.
16. Nehemiah 8:15
    and that they should proclaim this word and spread it throughout their towns and in Jerusalem: "Go out into the hill country and bring back branches from olive and wild olive trees, and from myrtles, palms and shade trees, to make booths"-as it is written.
17. Psalm 92:12
    The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;

LAND FLOWING WITH MILK AND HONEY - the original honey actually refers to the syrup produced from the juice of the date.

1. Exodus 3:8
   So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.
2. Exodus 3:17
   And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.'
3. Exodus 13:5
   When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites—the land he swore to your forefathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey—you are to observe this ceremony in this month:
4. Exodus 33:3
   Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way."
5. Leviticus 20:24
   But I said to you, "You will possess their land; I will give it to you as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey." I am the LORD your God, who has set you apart from the nations.
6. Numbers 13:27
   They gave Moses this account: "We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit.
7. Numbers 14:8
   If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us.
8. Numbers 16:13
   Isn't it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the desert? And now you also want to lord it over us?
9. Numbers 16:14
   Moreover, you haven't brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? No, we will not come!"
10. Deuteronomy 6:3
    Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you.

Go To Top
Phragmites australis, Phragmites communis, Common Reed, Hebrew: קנה מצוי, Arabic: ليخن حلبلا
The word for reed, cane in the Hebrew, Arabic, and Egyptian languages was קנה, kaneh. The word passed over into Greek and Latin, and into the languages of western Europe. Since reeds were long and straight, they were often used as measuring rods. From this concept, "reed" came to mean "a standard" and ultimately, "an authoritative standard", or "law".

1. Genesis 41:2
   when out of the river there came up seven cows, sleek and fat, and they grazed among the reeds.
2. Genesis 41:18
   when out of the river there came up seven cows, fat and sleek, and they grazed among the reeds.
3. Exodus 2:3
   But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.
4. Exodus 2:5
   Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it.
5. 1 Kings 14:15
   And the LORD will strike Israel, so that it will be like a reed swaying in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that he gave to their ancestors and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they aroused the LORD’s anger by making Asherah poles.
6. 2 Kings 18:21
   Look, I know you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him.
7. Job 8:11
   Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh? Can reeds thrive without water?
8. Job 40:21
   Under the lotus plants it lies, hidden among the reeds in the marsh.
9. Job 41:20
   Smoke pours from its nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
10. Psalm 68:30
    Rebuke the beast among the reeds, the herd of bulls among the calves of the nations. Humbled, may the beast bring bars of silver. Scatter the nations who delight in war.
11. Isaiah 9:14
    So the LORD will cut off from Israel both head and tail, both palm branch and reed in a single day;
12. Isaiah 19:6
    The canals will stink; the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up. The reeds and rushes will wither,
13. Isaiah 19:15
    There is nothing Egypt can do— head or tail, palm branch or reed.
14. Isaiah 35:7
    The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.
15. Isaiah 36:6
    Look, I know you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him.
16. Isaiah 42:3
    A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
17. Isaiah 58:5
    Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
18. Ezekiel 29:6
    Then all who live in Egypt will know that I am the LORD. “‘You have been a staff of reed for the people of Israel.
19. Matthew 11:7
    As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind?
20. Matthew 12:20
    A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory.
21. Luke 7:24
    After John’s messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind?
22. Revelation 11:1
    [ The Two Witnesses ] I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshipers.

Go To Top
Pinus halepensis, Aleppo Pine, Jerusalem pine, Hebrew: אורן ירושלים, Arabic: صنوبر الحلبي
The Bible itself alludes to pinecones and the Pineal Gland on several occasions, sometimes quite specifically. Beginning in Genesis, Jacob wrestles all night with God, and is commanded to change his name to Israel. The bible then purports the following:

1. Genesis 32:30-31
   So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
   The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
   (Literal Biblical translation of the word “Peniel” means “Face of God”)
2. Judges 8:8
   From there he went up to Peniel and made the same request of them, but they answered as the men of Sukkoth had.)
3. Judges 8:9
   So he said to the men of Peniel, “When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower.”
4. Judges 8:17
   He also pulled down the tower of Peniel and killed the men of the town.
5. 1 Kings 12:25
   [ Golden Calves at Bethel and Dan ] Then Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built up Peniel.
6. Isaiah 44:14
   He cut down cedars, or perhaps took a cypress or oak. He let it grow among the trees of the forest, or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow.
7. Hosea 14:8
   O Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols? I will answer him and care for him. I am like a green pine tree; your fruitfulness comes from me.
8. Matthew 6:22
   In another interesting passage, Matthew seems to provide an uncannily similar description of the Third Eye to texts of the Yogic and Hindu spiritual traditions. This verse is also interesting because the Pineal Gland is the only part of the brain that is “single,” not possessing a left and right hemisphere.
   "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light."

Go To Top
Pistacia lentiscus, Mastic tree, Lentisc: Hebrew: אלת המסטיק, Arabic: ضرو
The mastic tree, Pistacia lenticus, is mentioned only once, in the Book of Daniel 13, recounting the story of Susanna or Shoshana, שׁוֹשַׁנָּה, a fair Hebrew wife who is falsely accused by lecherous voyeurs.

1. Daniel 13:54-55
   Now then, if thou sawest her, tell me under what tree thou sawest them conversing together. He said: Under a mastic tree (υπο σχινον, hupo schinon). "And Daniel said: Well hast thou lied against thy own head: for behold the angel of God having received the sentence of him, shall cut (σχισει, schisei) thee in two".

Go To Top
Pistacia palaestina, Turpentine Tree, Terebinth Tree, Hebrew: אלה ארץ-ישראלית, Arabic: بطم
The Hebrew word used for the Pistacia is "elâh", and like that of the oak, stems from the Hebrew el (God), associated with strenght and sturdiness.
The Valley of "Elah", where David went and killed the giant Goliath (I Samuel 17:2-49), received its name from the Pistacia trees growing there.
The Hebrew words "êl, "êlâh", and "êlîm", refer to the Pistacia, but, "âllâh", "allôn", and "êlôn" to the Quercus.
In Israel there are 5 species of Pistacia:
1) P. lentiscus; 2) P. atlantica; 3) P. saportae Burnat; 4) P. palaestina; 5) P. khinjuk Stocks.

1. Genesis 36:41
   Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon,
2. 1 Samuel 17:2
   Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines.
3. 1 Samuel 17:19
   They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.”
4. 1 Samuel 21:9
   The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here; it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want it, take it; there is no sword here but that one.” David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”
5. 1 Kings 16:6
   Baasha rested with his ancestors and was buried in Tirzah. And Elah his son succeeded him as king.
6. 1 Kings 16:8
   [ Elah King of Israel ] In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah son of Baasha became king of Israel, and he reigned in Tirzah two years.
7. 1 Kings 16:9
   Zimri, one of his officials, who had command of half his chariots, plotted against him. Elah was in Tirzah at the time, getting drunk in the home of Arza, the palace administrator at Tirzah.
8. 1 Kings 16:13
   because of all the sins Baasha and his son Elah had committed and had caused Israel to commit, so that they aroused the anger of the LORD, the God of Israel, by their worthless idols.
9. 1 Kings 16:14
   As for the other events of Elah’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?
10. 2 Kings 15:30
    Then Hoshea son of Elah conspired against Pekah son of Remaliah. He attacked and assassinated him, and then succeeded him as king in the twentieth year of Jotham son of Uzziah.

Go To Top
Platanus orientalis, Oriental Plane Tree, Herbrew: דולב מזרחי, Arabic: دلب, Dulb
In the Bible the Platanus orientalis is usually mentioned along with willows and poplars, which grow normally only in moist low ground.

1. Genesis 30:37
   Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches.
2. Ezekiel 31:8
   The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it, nor could the junipers equal its boughs, nor could the plane trees compare with its branches— no tree in the garden of God could match its beauty.
3. Ecclesiasticus 24:14 (NRSV Apocrypha book also known as The Wisdom of Jesus Son of Sirach)
   I grew tall like a palm tree in En-gedi, and like rosebushes in Jericho; like a beautiful olive tree in the field,and like a plane tree by the water.

Go To Top
Populus alba, White Poplar, Hebrew: צפצפה מכסיפה, Arabic, حور, Hawr
Livneh is Populus alba, the white poplar, so called from the whiteness of its leaves, bark, and wood, from לבן, lavan to be white.

1. Genesis 30:37
   Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches.
2. Isaiah 65:3
   A people who continually provoke me to my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick.
3. Hosea 4:13
   They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar and terebinth, where the shade is pleasant. Therefore your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery.
4. Hosea 14:5
   I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots.

Go To Top
Populus euphratica, Euphrates Poplar, Euphrates aspen, Hebrew: צפצפת הפרת, Arabic, gharab
The leaves of the Populus euphratica are polymorphic, that is, different leaves on the same tree or even the same branch may have strikingly different shapes. The leaf-blades on young plants and the sterile lower branches of older plants are linear to lanceolate and entire-mergined, while the leaves of fertile branches are elliptic, oblong, ovate, rhomboid, or deltoid in shape, cuneate to truncate at the base, ans often more or less irregularly dentate.

1. Leviticus 23:40
   On the first day you are to take branches from luxuriant trees—from palms, willows and other leafy trees—and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.
2. Leviticus 26:36
   “‘As for those of you who are left, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them.
3. II Samuel 5:23-24
   so David inquired of the LORD, and he answered, “Do not go straight up, but circle around behind them and attack them in front of the poplar trees. As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the poplar trees, move quickly, because that will mean the LORD has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army.”
4. I Chronicles 14:14-15
   so David inquired of God again, and God answered him, “Do not go directly after them, but circle around them and attack them in front of the poplar trees. As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the poplar trees, move out to battle, because that will mean God has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army.
5. Psalm 84:6
   As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
6. Psalms 137:1-3
   By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!
7. Isaiah 7:2
   Now the house of David was told, “Aram has allied itself with Ephraim”; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.

Go To Top
Prunus armeniaca, Apple, Apricot, Hebrew: משמש, Arabic: : مِشْمِش
Tapuach תפוח derives from תפח ( = to swell, to become or be round).
Proverbs 25:11 - Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a ruling rightly given.
From the citation in which the tapuach is mentioned, it is obvious the tree must have supplied a appreciative shade; that the fruit must have been not only sweet and agreeable to the taste (Song of Solomon 2:3), but that it must have had a peculiar fragrance (Proverbs 25:11) or perfume combined with a beauty of appearance, as it contrasted with the foliage.
The only fruit which seems to meet all the requirements is Prunus armenica L., the apricot, a native of China that was introduced into Mesopotamia and the Holy Land and prior to the patriarchal period [around the time of Noah (about 2950 BCE)].
The Bible gives no clue of the identity of the "Forbidden Fruit" in the Garden of Eden and most commentators hold that the exact identity of the fruit is of secondary importance. The Zohar (the text of Jewish Kabbalah) claims the fruit was a grape.

1. Genesis 2:9 & 17
   ... and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil... But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
2. Genesis 3:6
   When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
3. Proverbs 25:11
   Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a ruling rightly given.
4. Song of Solomon 2:3
   She Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.
5. Song of Solomon 2:5
   Strengthen me with raisins, refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love.
6. Song of Solomon 7:8
   I said, “I will climb the palm tree; I will take hold of its fruit.” May your breasts be like clusters of grapes on the vine, the fragrance of your breath like apples,
7. Song of Solomon 8:5
   Friends Who is this coming up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved? SheUnder the apple tree I roused you; there your mother conceived you, there she who was in labor gave you birth.
8. Joel 1:12
   The vine is dried up and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, the palm and the apple tree— all the trees of the field—are dried up. Surely the people’s joy is withered away.

Go To Top
Pterocarpus santalinus, Algum, Red Saunders, a species of Pterocarpus only found in south India.
Almug was imported by Hiram of Tyre; and if the usual identification with Pterocarpus santalinus is correct, it would locate Ophir in India or Ceylon, where the tree is native.
Algum (2 Chr. 2:8; 9:10,11) is the same as Almug (1 Kings 10:11), perhaps through transportation of two consonants.

1. 1 Kings 10:11
   (Hiram’s ships brought gold from Ophir; and from there they brought great cargoes of almugwood and precious stones. 1 Kings 10:10-12 (in Context) 1 Kings 10 (Whole Chapter)
2. 1 Kings 10:12
   The king used the almugwood to make supports for the temple of the LORD and for the royal palace, and to make harps and lyres for the musicians. So much almugwood has never been imported or seen since that day.)
3. 2 Chronicles 2:8
   “Send me also cedar, juniper and algum logs from Lebanon, for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there. My servants will work with yours
4. 2 Chronicles 9:10
   (The servants of Hiram and the servants of Solomon brought gold from Ophir; they also brought algumwood and precious stones.
5. 2 Chronicles 9:11
   The king used the algumwood to make steps for the temple of the LORD and for the royal palace, and to make harps and lyres for the musicians. Nothing like them had ever been seen in Judah.)

Go To Top
Punica granatum, Pomegranate, Hebrew: רימון מצוי, Arabic: الرمان
In Christianity the Pomegranate is the symbol of the Resurrection of Jesus after its classical association with Persephone (Persephone is the equivalent of the Roman goddess Proserpine, an ancient Roman goddess), a life-death-rebirth deity. The many seeds contained in its tough case made it also a symbol of the unity of the many under one authority, and of chastity.
Jewish tradition teaches that the pomegranate is a symbol for righteousness, because it is said to have 613 seeds which corresponds with the 613 mitzvot or commandments of the Torah. For this reason and others many Jews eat pomegranates on Rosh Hashanah.

1. Exodus 28:33
   Make pomegranates of blue, purple and scarlet yarn around the hem of the robe, with gold bells between them.
2. Exodus 28:34
   The gold bells and the pomegranates are to alternate around the hem of the robe.
3. Exodus 39:24
   They made pomegranates of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen around the hem of the robe.
4. Exodus 39:25
   And they made bells of pure gold and attached them around the hem between the pomegranates.
5. Exodus 39:26
   The bells and pomegranates alternated around the hem of the robe to be worn for ministering, as the LORD commanded Moses.
6. Numbers 13:23
   When they reached the Valley of Eshkol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs.
7. Numbers 20:5
   Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!”
8. Deuteronomy 8:8
   a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey;
9. 1 Samuel 14:2
   Saul was staying on the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree in Migron. With him were about six hundred men,
10. 1 Kings 7:18
    He made pomegranates in two rows encircling each network to decorate the capitals on top of the pillars. He did the same for each capital.
11. 1 Kings 7:20
    On the capitals of both pillars, above the bowl-shaped part next to the network, were the two hundred pomegranates in rows all around.
12. 1 Kings 7:42
    the four hundred pomegranates for the two sets of network (two rows of pomegranates for each network decorating the bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars);
13. 2 Kings 25:17
    Each pillar was eighteen cubits high. The bronze capital on top of one pillar was three cubits high and was decorated with a network and pomegranates of bronze all around. The other pillar, with its network, was similar.
14. 2 Chronicles 3:16
    He made interwoven chains and put them on top of the pillars. He also made a hundred pomegranates and attached them to the chains.
15. 2 Chronicles 4:13
    the four hundred pomegranates for the two sets of network (two rows of pomegranates for each network, decorating the bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars);
16. Song of Solomon 4:3
    Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon; your mouth is lovely. Your temples behind your veil are like the halves of a pomegranate.
17. Song of Solomon 4:13
    Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, with henna and nard,
18. Song of Solomon 6:7
    Your temples behind your veil are like the halves of a pomegranate.
19. Song of Solomon 6:11
    He I went down to the grove of nut trees to look at the new growth in the valley, to see if the vines had budded or the pomegranates were in bloom.
20. Song of Solomon 7:12
    Let us go early to the vineyards to see if the vines have budded, if their blossoms have opened, and if the pomegranates are in bloom— there I will give you my love.
21. Song of Solomon 8:2
    I would lead you and bring you to my mother’s house— she who has taught me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the nectar of my pomegranates.
22. Jeremiah 52:22
    The bronze capital on top of one pillar was five cubits high and was decorated with a network and pomegranates of bronze all around. The other pillar, with its pomegranates, was similar.
23. Jeremiah 52:23
    There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; the total number of pomegranates above the surrounding network was a hundred.
24. Joel 1:12
    The vine is dried up and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, the palm and the apple tree— all the trees of the field—are dried up. Surely the people’s joy is withered away.
25. Haggai 2:19
    Is there yet any seed left in the barn? Until now, the vine and the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not borne fruit. “‘From this day on I will bless you.’”

Go To Top
Retama raetam, White Broom, White Weeping Broom, Hebrew: רותם המדבר, Arabic: رتم
The Hebrew words “rotem” or “rothem” and “r'tamin”, and “ritmah” or “rithmah” (Greek, ραϑμεν) are translated “juniper”, but is a species of broom known as the white broom, Retama raetam. The name Rithmah—a place along the route of the Exodus (Numbers 33:18-19)—was named for this shrub (rothem).

1. Numbers 33:18-19
   They left Hazeroth and camped at Rithmah. They left Rithmah and camped at Rimmon Perez.
2. 1 Kings 19:4
   while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.
3. Job 30:3-4
   Haggard from want and hunger, they roamed[a] the parched land in desolate wastelands at night. In the brush they gathered salt herbs, and their food[b] was the root of the broom bush.
4. Psalm 120:4
   He will punish you with a warrior’s sharp arrows, with burning coals of the broom bush.

Go To Top
Ricinus communis, Castor Bean, Castor-Oil Plant, Palma Christi, Gourd, Hebrew: קיקיון מצוי, Arabic: Kharrub, خرّوب
The Talmudists make mention of the "oil of kik", which Resh Lakish (3rd century) says is the "kikajon" of Jonah and which is the same that the Arabians call “alcheroa” or “alcherva”.

1. Jonah 4:6-7
   And the LORD God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant. 7 But as morning dawned the next day God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered.

Go To Top
Ruta chalepensis,Ruta bracteosa, Fringed rue,Citronelle Marron, Egyptian Rue,Ruda,herb-of-grace, Hebrew: פיגם מצוי
In Biblical times plants that were cultivated in gardens were subject to being taxed or tithed.
In the Old Testament Rue is not taxed, it may be that even though it was used in the kitchen, it was cultivated from the wild.
In Jesus' time it was grown in gardens and thus subject of tithe.

1. Luke 11:42
   “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.

Go To Top
Salix alba, White willow, Swallow tailed willow, Hebrew: ערבה לבנה
The foliage of the Aravah (willow) and Euphrates poplar (Tzaftzafah) look similar and that's why they are mixed up.
The terms Aravah and Tzaftzafah are interchangeable. What was once called Aravah is now called Tzaftzafah, and what was called Tzaftzafah is now called Aravah. The original Aravah is a willow branch that has a red stem and long smooth leaves, and the Aravah grows near the river. The Tzaftzafah has a white stem and it leaves are round and jagged.
The 'four species' requires an Aravah as one of the four, and a Tzaftzafah is not valid for use.

1. Leviticus 23:40
   On the first day you are to take branches from luxuriant trees—from palms, willows and other leafy trees—and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.
2. Job 40:22
   The lotuses conceal it in their shadow; the poplars by the stream surround it.
3. Isaiah 15:7
   So the wealth they have acquired and stored up they carry away over the Ravine of the Poplars.
4. Isaiah 44:3
   For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.
5. Isaiah 44:4
   They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams.
6. Psalm 137:1-2
   By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.
   There on the poplars we hung our harps.

Go To Top
Salvia dominica, Salvia graveolens, Dominican Sage,
Hebrew: מרווה ריחנית, Arabic: Khowwekha, خويخة
In Israel the branched inflorescence of the Salvia dominica is one of the several salvias thought to have inspired the design of the menorah, seven-branched candelabra, or lampstand.

1. Exodus 37:17
   They made the lampstand of pure gold. They hammered out its base and shaft, and made its flowerlike cups, buds and blossoms of one piece with them.

Go To Top
Sarcopoterium spinosum, Poterium spinosum, Thorny burnet, Pricky Burnet, Brushwood, Hebrew: סירה קוצנית, Arabic: نتش بلان
Lytton John Musselman, in his book "Plants of the Bible and the Quran", suggests Sarcopoterium spinosum to be the plant used for the crown of thorns placed on Jesus' head. Sarcopoterium spinosum has thorns up to 4 inches long. It is a flexible plant that would be easy to weave into a crown.
Sapoterium spinosum, Arabic ballan, which covers countless acres of bare hillside, was used all over Israel for ovens (Ecclesiastes 7:6) and lime-kilns. Before kindling one of these latter the fellahin gather enormous piles of this plant-carried on their heads in masses much larger than the bearers-around the kiln mouth.
Thorns are usually woody plants, such as Acacia, Lycium, Ononis, Prosopis, Rubus, Sarcopoterium, while thistles are herbaceous, such as Centaurea, Notobasis, Silybum.

1. Hosea 2:6
   Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.
2. Ecclesiastes 7:6
   Like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of fools. This too is meaningless.

Go To Top
Scolymus maculatus, Spotted Golden Thistle, Hebrew: חוח עקוד, Arabic: و قوص أصفر سنارية
Scolymus hispanicus, Spanish oyster plant, Spanish Golden-thistle,Hebrew: חוח ספרדי, Arabic: سنارية إسبانية
Hoah, חוח = briar, thistle; thorn. Scolymus [Song of Solomon 2:2 Like a lily among thorns (Keshoshana Ben Hachochim, כְּשׁוֹשַׁנָּה בֵּין הַחוֹחִים) is my darling among the young women].

1. 2 Kings 14:9
   But Jehoash king of Israel replied to Amaziah king of Judah: “A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, ‘Give your daughter to my son in marriage.’ Then a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle underfoot.
2. 2 Chronicles 25:18
   But Jehoash king of Israel replied to Amaziah king of Judah: “A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, ‘Give your daughter to my son in marriage.’ Then a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle underfoot.
3. 2 Chronicles 33:11
   So the LORD brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.
4. Job 31:40
   then let briers come up instead of wheat and stinkweed instead of barley.”
5. Job 41:2
   Can you put a cord through its nose or pierce its jaw with a hook?
6. Hosea 9:6
   Even if they escape from destruction, Egypt will gather them, and Memphis will bury them. Their treasures of silver will be taken over by briers, and thorns will overrun their tents.
7. Song 2:2
   Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the young women.
8. Isaiah 34:13
   Thorns will overrun her citadels, nettles and brambles her strongholds. She will become a haunt for jackals, a home for owls.
9. Proverbs 26:9
   Like a thornbush in a drunkard’s hand is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
10. 1 Samuel 13:6
    When the Israelites saw that their situation was critical and that their army was hard pressed, they hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in pits and cisterns.

Go To Top
Silybum marianum, Holy thistle, milk thistle, Our Lady's thistle, Hebrew: גדילן מצוי, Arabic: خرفيش جمال
According to Harold Moldenke (1909-1996), an American botanist/taxonomist (Plants of the Bible): some 125 kinds of thistles now grow in the Holy Land, lending point to the prophecies in Genesis and Hosea. Of these the commonest and the ones usually cited for these Biblical passages are Centaurea calcitrapa, Centaurea verutum, Centaurea iberica, and Silybum marianum. Dr. Michael Evenari (1904-1989), an Israeli botanist, lists Silybum marianum and Notobasis syriaca.

1. Genesis 3:18
   It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. But Jehoash king of Israel replied to Amaziah king of Judah: “A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, ‘Give your daughter to my son in marriage.’ Then a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle underfoot.
2. 2 Chronicles 25:18
   But Jehoash king of Israel replied to Amaziah king of Judah: “A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, ‘Give your daughter to my son in marriage.’ Then a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle underfoot.
3. Hosea 10:8
   The high places of wickedness will be destroyed— it is the sin of Israel. Thorns and thistles will grow up and cover their altars. Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!”
4. Matthew 7:16
   By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
5. Hebrews 6:8
   But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.

Go To Top
Sinapis alba, White mustard, Salad mustard, Hebrew: חרדל לבן, Arabic: خردل اصفر
The word 'mustard' refer to at least three plant species (Brassica nigra, black mustard; Sinapsis alba, white mustard; Brassica juncea, brown mustard), of which the first two were certainly known in the classical Mediterranean.
Mustard does not occur in the Tanach, ie Old Testament.

1. Matthew 13:31
   [ The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast ] He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field.
2. Matthew 17:20
   He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
3. Mark 4:30-31
   [ The Parable of the Mustard Seed ] Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it?
   It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth.
4. Luke 13:18-19
   [ The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast ] Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to?
   It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches.”
5. Luke 17:6
   He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.

Go To Top
Sinapis arvensis, Brassica arvensis, Eruca arvensis, Raphanus arvensis, Rhamphospermum arvense, Mustard, Charlock, Wild Mustard, Hebrew: חרדל השדה ,Arabic: خردل
Many have supposed that the charul (Greek, φρύγανα άγρία, similar to a term meaning "a rough dry stick") may probably be the Sinapis arvensis, which is a pernicious weed abounding in corn-fields.
The word خردل khardul is applied in all old Arabic works, to species of mustard and it is not unlike the kharul or charul, of the Bible.

1. Job 30:7
   They brayed among the bushes and huddled in the undergrowth ) Charul, חרול).
2. Proverbs 24:31
   thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins.
3. Zephaniah 2:9
   Therefore as I live," saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah" even the breeding of nettles and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation. The residue of My people shall despoil them, and the remnant of My people shall possess them."

Go To Top
Styrax officinalis L., Styrax, Greek: staktḗ (στακτή), Hebrew: לבנה רפואי, nataf (נטף), Arabic: اميعة
Storax (Styrax officinalis), the Hebrew word 'nataf'- נטף. Nataf /'stacte' is a synonym of tzori (means 'a liquid drop) - its gum is obtained by making incisions in the stems and branches and the spice Stacte is used in the holy incense
The Hebrew name, in common with the Latin and Greek names, means drop.

1. Exodus 30:34
   Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take fragrant spices — gum resin, onycha and galbanum—and pure frankincense, all in equal amounts.
2. Ecclesiasticus 24:21
   "And I perfumed my dwelling as storax, and galbanum, and onyx, and aloes,
   and as the frankincense not cut, and my odour is as the purest balm"

Go To Top
Tamarix aphylla, Tamarix articulate, Athel tree, Athel tamarisk, Hebrew: אשל הפרקים
No less than seven species of Tamarisk are found in Palestine, and several of them in great abundance.

1. Genesis 21:33
   Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the LORD, the Eternal God.
2. 1 Samuel 22:6
   [ Saul Kills the Priests of Nob ] Now Saul heard that David and his men had been discovered. And Saul was seated, spear in hand, under the tamarisk tree on the hill at Gibeah, with all his officials standing at his side.
3. 1 Samuel 31:13
   Then they took their bones and buried them under a tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they fasted seven days.

Go To Top
Triticum aestivum, Common wheat, Bread wheat, Hebrew: חיטה רכה, Arabic: قمح طري
Triticum aestivum L. is a hexaploid species that is the most widely cultivated in the world and it is the “wheat” of the Bible.

1. Genesis 30:14
   During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
2. Exodus 9:32
   The wheat and spelt, however, were not destroyed, because they ripen later.)
3. Exodus 29:2
   And from the finest wheat flour make round loaves without yeast, thick loaves without yeast and with olive oil mixed in, and thin loaves without yeast and brushed with olive oil.
4. Exodus 34:22
   “Celebrate the Festival of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering at the turn of the year.
5. Deuteronomy 8:8
   a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey;
6. Deuteronomy 32:14
   with curds and milk from herd and flock and with fattened lambs and goats, with choice rams of Bashan and the finest kernels of wheat. You drank the foaming blood of the grape.
7. Judges 6:11
   The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites.
8. Judges 15:1
   [ Samson’s Vengeance on the Philistines ] Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said, “I’m going to my wife’s room.” But her father would not let him go in.
9. Ruth 2:23
   So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
10. 1 Samuel 6:13
    Now the people of Beth Shemesh were harvesting their wheat in the valley, and when they looked up and saw the ark, they rejoiced at the sight.
11. 1 Samuel 12:17
    Is it not wheat harvest now? I will call on the LORD to send thunder and rain. And you will realize what an evil thing you did in the eyes of the LORD when you asked for a king.”
12. 2 Samuel 4:6
    They went into the inner part of the house as if to get some wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rekab and his brother Baanah slipped away.
13. 2 Samuel 17:28
    brought bedding and bowls and articles of pottery. They also brought wheat and barley, flour and roasted grain, beans and lentils,
14. 1 Kings 5:11
    and Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat as food for his household, in addition to twenty thousand baths of pressed olive oil. Solomon continued to do this for Hiram year after year.
15. 1 Chronicles 21:20
    While Araunah was threshing wheat, he turned and saw the angel; his four sons who were with him hid themselves.
16. 1 Chronicles 21:23
    Araunah said to David, “Take it! Let my lord the king do whatever pleases him. Look, I will give the oxen for the burnt offerings, the threshing sledges for the wood, and the wheat for the grain offering. I will give all this.”
17. 2 Chronicles 2:10
    I will give your servants, the woodsmen who cut the timber, twenty thousand cors of ground wheat, twenty thousand cors of barley, twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oil.”
18. 2 Chronicles 2:15
    “Now let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised,
19. 2 Chronicles 27:5
    Jotham waged war against the king of the Ammonites and conquered them. That year the Ammonites paid him a hundred talents of silver, ten thousand cors of wheat and ten thousand cors of barley. The Ammonites brought him the same amount also in the second and third years.
20. Ezra 6:9
    Whatever is needed—young bulls, rams, male lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine and olive oil, as requested by the priests in Jerusalem—must be given them daily without fail,
21. Ezra 7:22
    up to a hundred talents of silver, a hundred cors of wheat, a hundred baths of wine, a hundred baths of olive oil, and salt without limit.
22. Job 31:40
    then let briers come up instead of wheat and stinkweed instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.
23. Psalm 81:16
    But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
24. Psalm 147:14
    He grants peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat.
25. Song of Solomon 7:2
    Your navel is a rounded goblet that never lacks blended wine. Your waist is a mound of wheat encircled by lilies.

Go To Top
Tulipa agenensis,Tulipa oculis-solis, Tulipa sharonensis, Sharon tulip, Sun's-eye tulip, Hebrew: צבעוני ההרים, Arabic: زنبق, قرن الغزال
The Bible does not mention tulips specifically. However, biblical scholars now tell that the phrase “lilies of the field” refers to many different kinds of flowers, including the tulip.

1. Song of Songs 2:1–2
   The shepherd lover sings to his bride: “I am the rose of Sharon (most probably the Sharon tulip - Tulipa agenensis subsp. sharonensis),
   and the lily of the valleys (probably Narcissus tazetta). As the lily among thorns (Lilium candidum), so is my love among the daughters.”
2. Apocrypha: Sirach Chapter 50:8
   And as the flower of roses in the spring of the year, as lilies by the rivers of waters, and as the branches of the frankincense tree in the time of summer:

Go To Top
Typha domingensis, Typha australis, Bulrush, Southern Cattail, Narrowleaf Cattail, Hebrew: סוף מצוי, Arabic: افلح/ىدرب
The Red Sea is called Yam suf, sea of weeds, where suf must be taken as a general name for all marine vegetation, as in the passage from Jonah 2:5. In Exodus and Isaiah suf can be translated as Typha; in Egypt it was called tupai. Two species of Typha dominate in Egypt: Thypa elephantina and Thypa domingensis.

1. Genesis 41:2
   when out of the river there came up seven cows, sleek and fat, and they grazed among the reeds.
2. Genesis 41:18
   when out of the river there came up seven cows, fat and sleek, and they grazed among the reeds.
3. Exodus 2:3
   But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.
4. Exodus 2:5
   Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it.
5. Job 8:11
   Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh? Can reeds thrive without water?
6. Job 40:21
   Under the lotus plants it lies, hidden among the reeds in the marsh.
7. Job 41:20
   Smoke pours from its nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
8. Psalm 68:30
   Rebuke the beast among the reeds, the herd of bulls among the calves of the nations. Humbled, may the beast bring bars of silver. Scatter the nations who delight in war.
9. Isaiah 19:6
   The canals will stink; the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up. The reeds and rushes will wither,
10. Isaiah 35:7
    The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.
11. Jonah 2:5
    The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head

Go To Top
Urtica membranacea, Urtica caudata, Urtica dubia, Membranous Nettle, Hebrew: סרפד קרומי
Urtica pilulifera, Urtica dodartii, Roman nettle, Hebrew: סירפד הכדורים
Urtica urens, Small nettle, Dwarf stinger, Dog nettle, Hebrew: סרפד צורף
There are four species of true nettles found in Israel: Urtica pilulifera, Urtica urens, Urtica membranacea (Urtica caudata, Urtica dubia), and Urtica kioviensis. They are all common pests of waste places and fields.
In the Bible three different Hebrew names are quoted: Sirpad (סרפד)- in Isaiah 55:13; Seravim (סרבים)- in Ezekiel 2:6; Harul (הרול)-Zephaniah 2:9. They are synonyms, the roots s-r-f and h-a-r both meaning 'scorching' or 'burning'.

1. Isaiah 55:13
   Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
   This will be for the LORD's renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed.
2. Ezekiel 2:6
   And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words.
   Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions.
3. Hosea 9:6
   Even if they escape from destruction, Egypt will gather them, and Memphis will bury them.
   Their treasures of silver will be taken over by briers, and thorns will overrun their tents.
4. Zephaniah 2:9
   Surely Moab will become like Sodom, the Ammonites like Gomorrah—
   a place of nettles and salt pits, a wasteland forever.

Go To Top
Viburnum tinus, Tidhar, תדהר, Laurustinus, Hebrew: מורן החורש
The Israeli botanist Michael Zohary (1898 - 1983), Plants of the Bible, says that only Viburnum tinus has the slightest support to represent the Hebrew tidhar in the 2 Isaiah passages. 'Tidhar is a symbol of revival... The reliable Aramaic translation of the Targum Yonathan, which renders tidhar as mornian, which is cognate with the Arabic murran - the only Arabic name for Viburnum tinus'.

1. Isaiah 41:19
   I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.
   I will set junipers in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together,
   אתן במדבר ארז שטה והדס ועץ שמן אשים בערבה ברוש תדהר ותאשור יחדו
2. Isaiah 60:13
   The glory of Lebanon will come to you, the juniper, the fir and the cypress together,
   to adorn my sanctuary; and I will glorify the place for my feet.
   כבוד הלבנון אליך יבוא ברוש תדהר ותאשור יחדו לפאר מקום מקדשי ומקום רגלי אכבד

Go To Top
Vitis vinifera, Grapevine, Hebrew: גפן היין, Arabic: عنب
Vine is first mentioned in the Bible in the history of Noah (Gen. 9:20). It was cultivated in Canaan before the Israelites took possession of it. The men sent out by Moses brought with them from the Valley of Eshcol a cluster of grapes so large that "they bare it between two upon a staff" (Num. 13: 23). The vineyards of En-gedi (Song of Solomon 1:14), Heshbon, Sibmah, Jazer, Elealeh (Isa. 16:8-10; Jer. 48:32, 34), and Helbon (Ezek. 27:18), as well as of Eshcol, were celebrated.

1. Gen. 9:20
   Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard.
2. Exodus 22:5
   “If anyone grazes their livestock in a field or vineyard and lets them stray and they graze in someone else’s field, the offender must make restitution from the best of their own field or vineyard.
3. Exodus 23:11
   but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what is left. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.
4. Leviticus 19:10
   Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God.
5. Leviticus 25:3
   For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops.
6. Leviticus 25:4
   But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards.
7. Numbers 16:14
   Moreover, you haven’t brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Do you want to treat these men like slaves ? No, we will not come!”
8. Numbers 20:17
   Please let us pass through your country. We will not go through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway and not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory.”
9. Numbers 21:22
   “Let us pass through your country. We will not turn aside into any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.”
10. Numbers 22:24
    Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path through the vineyards, with walls on both sides.
11. Deuteronomy 6:11
    houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied,
12. Deuteronomy 20:6
    Has anyone planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else enjoy it.
13. Deuteronomy 22:9
    Do not plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard; if you do, not only the crops you plant but also the fruit of the vineyard will be defiled.
14. Deuteronomy 23:24
    If you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want, but do not put any in your basket.
15. Deuteronomy 24:21
    When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow.
16. Deuteronomy 28:30
    You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit.
17. Deuteronomy 28:39
    You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them.
18. Joshua 24:13
    So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’
19. Judges 14:5
    Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him.
20. Judges 15:5
    lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.
21. Judges 21:20
    So they instructed the Benjamites, saying, “Go and hide in the vineyards
22. Judges 21:21
    and watch. When the young women of Shiloh come out to join in the dancing, rush from the vineyards and each of you seize one of them to be your wife. Then return to the land of Benjamin.
23. 1 Samuel 8:14
    He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants.
24. 1 Samuel 22:7
    He said to them, “Listen, men of Benjamin! Will the son of Jesse give all of you fields and vineyards? Will he make all of you commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds?
25. 1 Kings 21:1
    [ Naboth’s Vineyard ] Some time later there was an incident involving a vineyard belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. The vineyard was in Jezreel, close to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.
26. 1 Kings 21:2
    Ahab said to Naboth, “Let me have your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden, since it is close to my palace. In exchange I will give you a better vineyard or, if you prefer, I will pay you whatever it is worth.”
27. 1 Kings 21:6
    He answered her, “Because I said to Naboth the Jezreelite, ‘Sell me your vineyard; or if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard in its place.’ But he said, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’”
28. 1 Kings 21:7
    Jezebel his wife said, “Is this how you act as king over Israel? Get up and eat! Cheer up. I’ll get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”
29. 1 Kings 21:15
    As soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, “Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite that he refused to sell you. He is no longer alive, but dead.”
30. 1 Kings 21:16
    When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up and went down to take possession of Naboth’s vineyard.
31. 1 Kings 21:18
    “Go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who rules in Samaria. He is now in Naboth’s vineyard, where he has gone to take possession of it.
32. 2 Kings 5:26
    But Elisha said to him, “Was not my spirit with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to take money or to accept clothes—or olive groves and vineyards, or flocks and herds, or male and female slaves?
33. 2 Kings 18:32
    until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Choose life and not death! “Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’
34. 2 Kings 19:29
    “This will be the sign for you, Hezekiah: “This year you will eat what grows by itself, and the second year what springs from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
35. 2 Kings 25:12
    But the commander left behind some of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.
36. 1 Chronicles 27:27
    Shimei the Ramathite was in charge of the vineyards. Zabdi the Shiphmite was in charge of the produce of the vineyards for the wine vats.
37. 2 Chronicles 26:10
    He also built towers in the wilderness and dug many cisterns, because he had much livestock in the foothills and in the plain. He had people working his fields and vineyards in the hills and in the fertile lands, for he loved the soil.
38. Nehemiah 5:3
    Others were saying, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our homes to get grain during the famine.” Nehemiah 5:2-4 (in Context) Nehemiah 5 (Whole Chapter)
39. Nehemiah 5:4
    Still others were saying, “We have had to borrow money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards.
40. Nehemiah 5:5
    Although we are of the same flesh and blood as our fellow Jews and though our children are as good as theirs, yet we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but we are powerless, because our fields and our vineyards belong to others.”
41. Nehemiah 5:11
    Give back to them immediately their fields, vineyards, olive groves and houses, and also the interest you are charging them—one percent of the money, grain, new wine and olive oil.”
42. Nehemiah 9:25
    They captured fortified cities and fertile land; they took possession of houses filled with all kinds of good things, wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves and fruit trees in abundance. They ate to the full and were well-nourished; they reveled in your great goodness.
43. Job 24:6
    They gather fodder in the fields and glean in the vineyards of the wicked.
44. Job 24:18
    “Yet they are foam on the surface of the water; their portion of the land is cursed, so that no one goes to the vineyards.
45. Psalm 107:37
    They sowed fields and planted vineyards that yielded a fruitful harvest;
46. Proverbs 24:30
    I went past the field of a sluggard, past the vineyard of someone who has no sense;
47. Proverbs 31:16
    She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
48. Ecclesiastes 2:4
    I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards.
49. Song of Solomon 1:6
    Do not stare at me because I am dark, because I am darkened by the sun. My mother’s sons were angry with me and made me take care of the vineyards; my own vineyard I had to neglect.
50. Song of Solomon 1:14
    My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms from the vineyards of En Gedi.
51. Song of Solomon 2:15
    Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.
52. Song of Solomon 7:12
    Let us go early to the vineyards to see if the vines have budded, if their blossoms have opened, and if the pomegranates are in bloom— there I will give you my love.
53. Song of Solomon 8:11
    Solomon had a vineyard in Baal Hamon; he let out his vineyard to tenants. Each was to bring for its fruit a thousand shekels of silver.
54. Song of Solomon 8:12
    But my own vineyard is mine to give; the thousand shekels are for you, Solomon, and two hundred are for those who tend its fruit.
55. Isaiah 1:8
    Daughter Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a cucumber field, like a city under siege.
56. Isaiah 3:14
    The LORD enters into judgment against the elders and leaders of his people: “It is you who have ruined my vineyard; the plunder from the poor is in your houses.
57. Isaiah 5:1
    [ The Song of the Vineyard ] I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.
58. Isaiah 5:3
    “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.
59. Isaiah 5:4
    What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad?
60. Isaiah 5:5
    Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled.
61. Isaiah 5:7
    The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.
62. Isaiah 5:10
    A ten-acre vineyard will produce only a bath of wine; a homer of seed will yield only an ephah of grain.”
63. Isaiah 16:10
    Joy and gladness are taken away from the orchards; no one sings or shouts in the vineyards; no one treads out wine at the presses, for I have put an end to the shouting.
64. Isaiah 27:2
    In that day— “Sing about a fruitful vineyard:
65. Isaiah 36:17
    until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
66. Isaiah 37:30
    “This will be the sign for you, Hezekiah: “This year you will eat what grows by itself, and the second year what springs from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
67. Isaiah 61:5
    Strangers will shepherd your flocks; foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.
68. Isaiah 65:21
    They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
69. Jeremiah 5:10
    “Go through her vineyards and ravage them, but do not destroy them completely. Strip off her branches, for these people do not belong to the LORD.
70. Jeremiah 12:10
    Many shepherds will ruin my vineyard and trample down my field; they will turn my pleasant field into a desolate wasteland.
71. Jeremiah 31:5
    Again you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria; the farmers will plant them and enjoy their fruit.
72. Jeremiah 32:15
    For this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.’
73. Jeremiah 35:7
    Also you must never build houses, sow seed or plant vineyards; you must never have any of these things, but must always live in tents. Then you will live a long time in the land where you are nomads.’
74. Jeremiah 35:9
    or built houses to live in or had vineyards, fields or crops.
75. Jeremiah 39:10
    But Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard left behind in the land of Judah some of the poor people, who owned nothing; and at that time he gave them vineyards and fields.
76. Jeremiah 52:16
    But Nebuzaradan left behind the rest of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.
77. Ezekiel 19:10
    “‘Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard planted by the water; it was fruitful and full of branches because of abundant water.
78. Ezekiel 28:26
    They will live there in safety and will build houses and plant vineyards; they will live in safety when I inflict punishment on all their neighbors who maligned them. Then they will know that I am the LORD their God.’”
79. Hosea 2:15
    There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
80. Amos 4:9
    “Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards, destroying them with blight and mildew. Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the LORD.
81. Amos 5:11
    You levy a straw tax on the poor and impose a tax on their grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine.
82. Amos 5:17
    There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will pass through your midst,” says the LORD.
83. Amos 9:14
    and I will bring my people Israel back from exile. “They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
84. Micah 1:6
    “Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble, a place for planting vineyards. I will pour her stones into the valley and lay bare her foundations.
85. Micah 7:1
    [ Israel’s Misery ] What misery is mine! I am like one who gathers summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard; there is no cluster of grapes to eat, none of the early figs that I crave.
86. Zephaniah 1:13
    Their wealth will be plundered, their houses demolished. Though they build houses, they will not live in them; though they plant

Go To Top
Xanthium strumarium, Xanthium occidentale, Xanthium pungens, Rough Cocklebur, Hebrew: לְכִיד הַנְּחָלִים
According to some authorities, the Cocklebur is perhaps the most annoying and painfully prickly, and for that reason, the most logical plant for the Hosea reference.

1. Hosea 9:6
   Even if they escape from destruction, Egypt will gather them, and Memphis will bury them. Their treasures of silver will be taken over by briers, and thorns will overrun their tents.

Go To Top
Zilla spinosa, Spiny Zilla, סילון קוצני
Zilla from "silla", an arabic word denoting a spine, named by Peter Forsskål ((1732-1763); silon is ‘thorn’.
Zillah (Tsillâh, צלה, shade), and her sister, Adah became the wives of their third cousin, Lamech. Zillah was named for this plant.

1. Genesis 4:23
   Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me.
2. Ezekiel 28:24
   No longer will the people of Israel have malicious neighbors who are painful briers (silon=thorn) and sharp thorns. Then they will know that I am the Sovereign LORD.

Go To Top
Ziziphus spina-christi, Jujube, Christ’s thorn, Hebrew:שיזף מצוי , Sheizaf matzui, sheziffin, Alternate Hebrew name:,אטד Atad Many scholars identify the jujube as the biblical atad, mentioned in the "Parable of the trees" in the book of Judges (Judges 9:15) known as Jotham's Parable (Hebrew: mashal, משל יותם), an allegorical story against the monarchy, in recent years told on Tu B'shvat as a children's tale.

1. Judges 8:7
   …I will tear your flesh with desert thorns and briers.
2. Isaiah 7:19
   They will all come and settle on the steep ravines, on the ledges of the cliffs,
   on all the thorn bushes and on all the watering places.
3. Isaiah 9:18
   For wickedness burns like a fire; It consumes briars and thorns…
4. Isaiah 55:13
   Instead of the thorn bush the cypress will come up, And instead of the nettle the myrtle will come up…
5. Matthew 7:16
   You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?

Go To Top
Zygophyllum dumosum, Bean caper plant, Hebrew: זוגן השיח
Michael Zohary (1898-1983), a pioneering Israeli botanist, suggests on the basis of its cognate with the Arabic illam that Elim in Numbers 33:9-10 was named for Zygophyllum dumosum.

1. Numbers 33:9-10
   They left Marah and went to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there. They left Elim and camped by the Red Sea.

Go To Top