Bitter Herbs

מרודים . Exo 12:8, and Num 9:11. The Jews were commanded to eat their passover with a sallad of bitter herbs; but whether one particular plant was intended, or any kind of bitter herbs, has been made a question. By the Septuagint it is rendered επι πικριδων; by Jerom, “cum lactucis agrestibus;” and by the Gr. Venet., επι πικρισιν. Dr. Geddes remarks, that “it is highly probable that the succory or wild lettuce is meant.” The Mischna in

Pesachim, cap. 2, reckons five species of these bitter herbs:

1. Chazareth, taken for lettuce:

2. Ulsin, supposed to be endive or succory:

3. Tamca, probably tansy:

4. Charubbinim, which Bochart thought might be the nettle, but

Scheuchzer shows to be the camomile:

5. Meror, the sow-thistle, or dent-de-lion, or wild lettuce.

Mr. Forskal says, “the Jews in Sana and in Egypt eat the lettuce with the paschal lamb.” He also remarks, that moru is centaury, of which the young stems are eaten in February and March.

Bitter Herbs, literally bitters. There has been much difference of opinion respecting the kind of herbs denoted by this word.

It however seems very doubtful whether any particular herbs were intended by so general a term as bitters; it is far more probable that it denotes whatever bitter herbs, obtainable in the place where the Passover was eaten, might be fitly used with meat.

Bitter Herbs. The Israelites were commanded to eat the Paschal Lamb "with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs." Exo 12:8. These "bitter herbs" consisted of such plants as chicory, bitter cresses, hawkweeds, sow-thistles and wild lettuces, which grow abundantly in the peninsula of Sinai, in Palestine and in Egypt. The purpose of this observance was, to recall to the minds of the Israelites, their deliverance from the bitter bondage of the Egyptians.

Bitter Herbs. Exo 12:8. The Jews were commanded to eat the Passover with a salad of bitter herbs; and the Rabbins tell us that such plants as wild lettuce, endives, and chicory were employed for that purpose, as they still are by the Arabs In those regions. The use of them on that occasion was intended to call to their remembrance the severe and cruel bondage from which God delivered them when they were brought out of Egypt.

No particular herbs are specified by name, indeed the word ’herbs’ is added in the A.V., so that it is literally ’bitterness.’ The paschal lamb was to be eaten with ’bitter herbs,’ doubtless signifying the sense in the souls of those partaking that it was for their sins the victim was slain. Exo 12:8; Num 9:11.

See PASSOVER (; Aramaic, ; hence the Greek Πάσχα).

BITTER HERBS (merôrîm, Exo 12:8, Num 9:11).—The bitter herbs of the modern Jewish Passover in Palestine are specially lettuce and endive. Other salads, such as parsley, cucumber, chicory, and water-cress, are also commonly eaten, indeed are prime favourites. The author of Lam 3:15, in using the same word merôrîm (tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘bitterness’), doubtless had more bitter and less wholesome plants in his mind, perhaps the colocynth or Ecballium elaterium, the wild gourd of 2Ki 4:39. See, further, Passover.

E. W. G. Masterman.

hûrbs, or ûrbs (מררים, m^erōrı̄m): Originally in the primitive Passover (Exo 12:8; Num 9:11) these were probably merely salads, the simplest and quickest prepared form of vegetable accompaniment to the roasted lamb. Such salads have always been favorites in the Orient. Cucumbers, lettuce, water-cress, parsley and endive are some of those commonly used. Later on the Passover ritual (as it does today) laid emphasis on the idea of “bitterness” as symbolical of Israel’s lot in Egypt. In modern Palestine the Jews use chiefly lettuce and endive for the “bitter herbs” of their Passover. In Lam 3:15 the same word is used: “He hath filled me with bitterness m^erōrı̄m, he hath sated me with wormwood.” Here the parallelism with “wormwood” suggests some plant more distinctly bitter than the mild salads mentioned above, such, for example, as the colocynth (Citrullus colocynthus) or the violently irritating squirting cucumber (Ecballium elaterium).

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.

The leaves of ordinary garden lettuce become very bitter when bleached (when they turn white after being covered to prevent sunlight from reaching them). This is also true of the common dandelion. Some scholars suggest that the bitter herbs might have come from thorns and thistles.

The Significance of Bitter Herbs

The book of Exodus does not explain why the Israelites were told to eat bitter herbs. Traditionally, Christians and Jews have understood the bitter herbs to symbolize the suffering of the Hebrews during their slavery in Egypt.

The Bible mentions bitter herbs in only two other places (Numbers 9:11; Lamentations 3:15). These passages do not explain what kind of plant the herbs were or why they were used. In Numbers, the bitter herbs are included in instructions for people who could not celebrate the Passover at the usual time (Numbers 9:6–12). In Lamentations, the prophet Jeremiah describes his own suffering. He says that the Lord has filled him with bitterness. Because bitter herbs can represent Jeremiah’s suffering, they may also represent Israel’s suffering during slavery in Egypt.

After the night when God delivered the Hebrews from slavery, bitter herbs became part of the yearly Passover celebration to remember that event.

Today, Samaritans use the leaves of the wild lettuce plant as the bitter herbs in their Passover celebration. Jews of European background traditionally use red horseradish.

See also Passover.

Aquifer Open Bible Dictionary © 2026 Mission Mutual, an adaptation of the Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Plants and Trees in the Bible © United Bible Societies. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.