Bitter Herbs

Often eaten during Jewish Passover, and used in cooking and medicine.

Chicory
Chicory (Iorsh (Wikimedia Commons)) Bitter herbs

About Bitter Herbs

Bitter herbs are some kind of bitter-tasting vegetables, perhaps a certain variety of lettuce. The people of Israel were commanded to eat bitter herbs along with roasted lamb and unleavened bread on the night when God caused the plague of death on all the Egyptian firstborn (Exodus 12:8–11).

The "bitter herbs" mentioned in Exodus 12:8 and Numbers 9:11 likely refer to plants such as endive (Cichorium endivia), the common chicory (Cichorium intybus), lettuce (Lactuca sativa), or the common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale). All of these are weedy plants commonly found in modern Egypt and western Asia. People living in these regions still eat these plants today.

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A plant ( Cichorium intybus ) that grows wild in many parts of Israel and the surrounding regions. It has bright blue flowers and leaves that can be eaten as a vegetable. Some...

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Habitat, identification, and how translators render the term across languages.

Key References

Exodus 12:8

They are to eat the meat that night, roasted over the fire, along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

Numbers 9:11

Such people are to observe it at twilight on the fourteenth day of the second month. They are to eat the lamb, together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs;

Deuteronomy 32:32

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

All Scripture References (4)

Exodus (1)
Exodus 12:8

They are to eat the meat that night, roasted over the fire, along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

Numbers (1)
Numbers 9:11

Such people are to observe it at twilight on the fourteenth day of the second month. They are to eat the lamb, together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs;

Deuteronomy (1)
Deuteronomy 32:32

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

Lamentations (1)
Lamentations 3:15

He has filled me with bitterness; He has intoxicated me with wormwood.