Wormwood,
laanah, afinthos. This occurs in scripture only in a metaphorical sense. Turning to idolatry is compared to being a root that beareth gall and wormwood. Deuteronomy 29:18. Some turned 'judgement to wormwood,' probably alluding to the unrighteous judges. Amos 5:7. Because of the wickedness of His people, God said He would feed them with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. Jeremiah 9:15; Jeremiah 23:15. Jeremiah, in lamenting over the condition of Israel, compared it to being drunk with wormwood. Lamentations 3:15, Lamentations 1:3. On the sounding of the third trumpet in the Revelation, a star named Wormwood fell from heaven, and the third part of the waters were turned to wormwood, of which many men died: the moral sources of life will become destructive. Revelation 8:10, Revelation 1:8. There are several species in Palestine: the Artemisia absinthium and A. chinensis are the wormwood of commerce.