Hebrew word · H7219

רֹאשׁ

rosh

poison

A poisonous plant, and its toxic juice. It also means the venom of snakes (Deut 32:33; Job 20:16). It is spelled the same as rōʾsh, 'head' (H7218), and some connect the name to a plant with a head-shaped seed capsule, such as the poppy, but that is a guess.

Appears 12 times in 12 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

gall, venom, bitter, poisonous

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Deuteronomy 29:18

Range of meaning

A poisonous plant, and its toxic juice. It also means the venom of snakes (Deut 32:33; Job 20:16). It is spelled the same as rōʾsh, 'head' (H7218), and some connect the name to a plant with a head-shaped seed capsule, such as the poppy, but that is a guess. Suggested plants include hemlock, poppy, colocynth (a bitter wild gourd) and others. HALOT and botanical studies such as Zohary's treat the identification as uncertain.

Against the English

KJV and YLT: 'gall'. WEB and NIV: 'poison' (WEB's 'bitter poison' merges the two plants into one). BSB and ESV: 'poisonous'. NASB: 'poisonous fruit'. 'Gall' goes back to the Greek and Latin translations (cholē, fel = bile, a bitter substance) rather than to the Hebrew.

How it drifted

Through the Septuagint and Vulgate, 'gall' (bile) entered English Bibles. In modern English 'gall' usually means nerve or cheek ('the gall of him!'), or it suggests the gallbladder. Neither is a poisonous plant.

Used elsewhere in the period

Paired with laʿănāh in Jer 9:15; 23:15; Lam 3:19; Amos 6:12. Hos 10:4: false judgment 'springs up like rōʾsh in the furrows of the field', the same picture of a poisonous weed in farmland. Ps 69:21: 'they gave me rōʾsh for food', which the Greek renders cholē and which Matthew 27:34 echoes.

From the study of Jeremiah 9:15

Range of meaning

A poisonous plant growing in fields (Hos 10:4, 'judgment springs up like rosh in the furrows'). It has been identified as hemlock, colocynth or poppy, but the identification is uncertain. By extension it means 'venom' (Deut 32:33, 'the rosh of asps'; Job 20:16). It is spelled the same as rōʾš 'head', and some suggest the plant was named for a head-like seed-pod, which is speculative.

Against the English

KJV/YLT 'water of gall' follows the Latin fel and the Greek cholē (bile), both bitter liquids, but the Hebrew names a toxic plant. 'Poisoned / poisonous water' (BSB, WEB, NASB, ESV, NIV) is closer to the point.

How it drifted

'Gall' in English today means the gall-bladder or bile, or cheeky nerve ('the gall of him!'). None of these is in the Hebrew.

Used elsewhere in the period

The exact phrase mê-rōʾš also comes in Jer 8:14 ('the LORD our God… has given us water of rosh to drink', said by the people themselves) and Jer 23:15 (against the false prophets). It is paired with laʿanah in Deut 29:18, Lam 3:19 and Amos 6:12. HALOT and BDB both give 'poisonous plant' / 'venom'.

From the study of Psalm 69:21

Range of meaning

A bitter, poisonous plant, never certainly identified (proposals include the opium poppy, hemlock, and colocynth, a bitter wild gourd). It is also used of snake venom (Deut 32:33; Job 20:16). In figurative use it is a byword for bitter ruin. It is paired with wormwood (laʿănāh) for apostasy and divine judgment (Deut 29:18; Jer 9:15; 23:15; Lam 3:19; Amos 6:12) and for corrupt justice springing up like weeds (Hos 10:4). Jeremiah speaks of 'poisoned water' (mê-rōʾš, Jer 8:14). It is spelled the same as the common word for 'head'.

Against the English

KJV, NASB, NIV and BSB say 'gall'; WEB, ESV and NLT say 'poison'. 'Gall' comes from the Greek and Latin versions (χολή, fel), which literally mean bile, the bitter fluid of the liver. The Hebrew word is about a toxic plant, not bile.

How it drifted

Ancient translators chose 'bile' as the proverbial bitter substance. The English 'gall' that came from it now usually means impudence ('the gall of him!') or, less often, bile or a skin sore. Few modern readers hear 'poisonous plant'.

Used elsewhere in the period

LXX Ps 68:22 has χολή, which the LXX also uses for rōʾš in Deut 29:18 and Lam 3:19. The Vulgate has fel. Matthew 27:34 ('wine mixed with gall', χολή) takes the LXX wording of this verse, where Mark 15:23 has 'wine mixed with myrrh'.

Where it appears

Deuteronomy · 3

  1. Deuteronomy 29:18 רֹ֖אשׁ poison

    Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Make sure there is no root among you that bears such poisonous and bitter fruit,

    Here: A poisonous plant whose exact species is uncertain. The word also means snake venom. It is the deadly half of the pair.

  2. Deuteronomy 32:32 ר֔וֹשׁ poison

    But their vine is from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poisonous; their clusters are bitter.

    Here: A poisonous, bitter plant, and by extension poison or venom (v. 33 uses the same word for cobra venom). It looks like the word for "head" but is a separate noun. KJV renders it "gall."

  3. Deuteronomy 32:33 וְרֹ֥אשׁ and [the] poison of

    Their wine is the venom of serpents, the deadly poison of cobras.

Job · 1

  1. Job 20:16 רֹאשׁ־ [the] poison of

    He will suck the poison of cobras; the fangs of a viper will kill him.

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 69:21 רֹ֑אשׁ poison

    They poisoned my food with gall and gave me vinegar to quench my thirst.

    Here: A bitter, poisonous plant, often paired with wormwood (Deut 29:18; Jer 9:15; Lam 3:19), and also used of snake venom (Deut 32:33). It is spelled like the word for 'head', but here it means poison. The main pause in the verse falls on this word, closing the first half on its bitterest note.

Jeremiah · 3

  1. Jeremiah 8:14 רֹ֔אשׁ poison

    Why are we just sitting here? Gather together, let us flee to the fortified cities and perish there, for the LORD our God has doomed us. He has given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.

    Here: An unidentified bitter, poisonous plant, also used for snake venom. 'Water of rosh' is a poisoned, bitter drink. Jeremiah repeats the image in 9:15 and 23:15.

  2. Jeremiah 9:15 רֹֽאשׁ׃ poison

    Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will feed this people wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.

    Here: A poisonous, bitter plant (perhaps hemlock or colocynth), and by extension venom. 'Water of rosh' is water made toxic: the drink that should keep them alive now harms them.

  3. Jeremiah 23:15 רֹ֑אשׁ poison

    Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts says concerning the prophets: “I will feed them wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land.”

Lamentations · 2

  1. Lamentations 3:5 רֹ֥אשׁ poison

    He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.

  2. Lamentations 3:19 וָרֹֽאשׁ׃ and poison

    Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall.

Hosea · 1

  1. Hosea 10:4 כָּרֹאשׁ֙ like <the> poisonous plant

    They speak mere words; with false oaths they make covenants. So judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field.

Amos · 1

  1. Amos 6:12 לְרֹאשׁ֙ into poison

    “Do horses gallop on the cliffs? Does one plow the sea with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood—

    Here: "Into poison". Rō’š is a bitter, poisonous plant and its venom (KJV "gall"). The botanical identity is uncertain.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.