Bible Dictionary · H
Herb
(1.) Heb. ‘eseb, any green plant; herbage (Gen 1:11, Gen 1:12, Gen 1:29, Gen 1:30; Gen 2:5; Gen 3:18, etc.); comprehending vegetables and all green herbage (Amos 7:1, Amos 7:2).
(2.) Yarak, green; any green thing; foliage of trees (2 Kgs 19:26; Ps 37:2); a plant; herb (Deut 11:10).
(3.) Or, meaning “light” In Isa 26:19 it means “green herbs;” in 2 Kgs 4:39 probably the fruit of some plant.
(4.) Merorim, plural, “bitter herbs,” eaten by the Israelites at the Passover (Ex 12:8; Num 9:11). They were bitter plants of various sorts, and referred symbolically to the oppression in Egypt.
From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), by Matthew George Easton.
