Wormwood

Wormwood (Hebrew la'anah; Greek apsinthos) is the Artemisia absinthium of botanists, an intensely bitter plant used to produce absinthe and noted throughout the ancient world for its bitterness. In Scripture it consistently serves as an image of bitter consequence, judgment, and moral corruption. Deuteronomy 29:18 warns against the root of bitterness that bears gall and wormwood — the idolater whose influence poisons the community. Proverbs 5:4 describes the adulteress: "her end is bitter as wormwood." Amos 5:7 pronounces woe on those who "turn judgment to wormwood" — making justice bitter rather than sweet. Jeremiah uses wormwood as an image of God's judgment on unfaithful Israel (Jeremiah 9:15; 23:15). In Revelation 8:11, one of the seven trumpets is named Wormwood: when a great star falls into rivers and springs of water, a third of the waters become bitter "as wormwood" and many people die — a judgment on corrupted life-sources mirroring the bitter waters of Marah (Exodus 15:23–25).