Herbs and spices

Plants whose leaves or seeds are used as food or flavourings and sometimes for medicine. The rich variety of such plants in the Near East results in numerous references in Scripture.

Aloes

John 19:39–40 See also Numbers 24:5–6; Psalm 45:6–8; Proverbs 7:17–18; Song of Solomon 4:12–14

Nicodemus, who had previously come to Jesus at night, also brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. So they took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in linen cloths with the spices, according to the Jewish burial custom.

Balm

Genesis 43:11 See also Genesis 37:25; Jeremiah 8:22

Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your packs and carry them down as a gift for the man — a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds.

Bitter herbs

Exodus 12:5–8 See also Numbers 9:9–11; Lamentations 3:15

Your lamb must be an unblemished year-old male, and you may take it from the sheep or the goats. You must keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight. They are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. They are to eat the meat that night, roasted over the fire, along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

Caraway

Isaiah 28:27 See also Isaiah 28:25

Surely caraway is not threshed with a sledge, and the wheel of a cart is not rolled over the cumin. But caraway is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod.

Cassia

Psalm 45:8 See also Exodus 30:22–25; Ezekiel 27:19

All your garments are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia; from palaces of ivory the harps make you glad.

Cinnamon

Revelation 18:11–13 See also Exodus 30:22–25; Proverbs 7:17–18; Song of Solomon 4:12–14

And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, because there is no one left to buy their cargo — cargo of gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls; of fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet; of all kinds of citron wood and every article of ivory, precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble; of cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, and frankincense; of wine, olive oil, fine flour, and wheat; of cattle, sheep, horses, and carriages; of bodies and souls of slaves.

Coriander

Exodus 16:31 See also Numbers 11:7

Now the house of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey.

Cummin

Isaiah 28:25, Isaiah 28:27; Matthew 23:23

Dill

Matthew 23:23

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You pay tithes of mint, dill, and cumin. But you have disregarded the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.

Henna

Song of Solomon 1:14 See also Song of Solomon 4:13

My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of En-gedi.

Mint

Matthew 23:23 parallel Luke 11:42

Myrrh

Esther 2:12 See also Song of Solomon 1:13; Matthew 2:11; John 19:38–39

In the twelve months before her turn to go to King Xerxes, the harem regulation required each young woman to receive beauty treatments with oil of myrrh for six months, and then with perfumes and cosmetics for another six months.

Rue

Luke 11:42

Woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithes of mint, rue, and every herb, but you disregard justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former.

Saffron

Song of Solomon 4:13–14

Your branches are an orchard of pomegranates with the choicest of fruits, with henna and nard, with nard and saffron, with calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of frankincense tree, with myrrh and aloes, with all the finest spices.

Salt herbs

Job 30:1–5

“But now they mock me, men younger than I am, whose fathers I would have refused to put with my sheep dogs. What use to me was the strength of their hands, since their vigor had left them? Gaunt from poverty and hunger, they gnawed the dry land, and the desolate wasteland by night. They plucked mallow among the shrubs, and the roots of the broom tree were their food. They were banished from among men, shouted at like thieves,

Other spices

Given as gifts or as tribute

1 Kings 10:10 parallel 2 Chronicles 9:9 See also 1 Kings 10:1–2 parallel 2 Chronicles 9:1; 1 Kings 10:25 parallel 2 Chronicles 9:24

Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, a great quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again were spices in such abundance brought in as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

Traded between countries

Genesis 37:25 See also Ezekiel 27:22; Revelation 18:11–13

And as they sat down to eat a meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh on their way down to Egypt.

Used in burial customs

2 Chronicles 16:14 See also Mark 16:1 parallel Luke 23:56–24:1; John 19:40

And he was buried in the tomb that he had cut out for himself in the City of David. They laid him on a bier that was full of spices and various blended perfumes; then they made a great fire in his honor.

Used for perfume or flavouring

Exodus 30:34–35 See also Psalm 75:8; Song of Solomon 4:10; Ezekiel 24:10

The LORD also said to Moses, “Take fragrant spices — gum resin, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense — in equal measures, and make a fragrant blend of incense, the work of a perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy.

Stores of spices

2 Chronicles 32:27 See also 2 Kings 20:13 parallel Isaiah 39:2; 1 Chronicles 9:29–30

Hezekiah had very great riches and honor, and he made treasuries for his silver, gold, precious stones, spices, shields, and all kinds of valuable articles.