Bible Dictionary · P
Poison
(1.) Heb. hemah, “heat,” the poison of certain venomous reptiles (Deut 32:24, Deut 32:33; Job 6:4; Ps 58:4), causing inflammation.
(2.) Heb. rosh, “a head,” a poisonous plant (Deut 29:18), growing luxuriantly (Hos 10:4), of a bitter taste (Ps 69:21; Lam 3:5), and coupled with wormwood; probably the poppy. This word is rendered “gall”, q.v., (Deut 29:18; Deut 32:33; Ps 69:21; Jer 8:14, etc.), “hemlock” (Hos 10:4; Amos 6:12), and “poison” (Job 20:16), “the poison of asps,” showing that the rosh was not exclusively a vegetable poison.
(3.) In Rom 3:13 (comp. Job 20:16; Ps 140:3), Jas 3:8, as the rendering of the Greek ios.
From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), by Matthew George Easton.
