The word rue occurs only in Luk 11:42. ’But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment,’ etc. In the parallel passage, Mat 23:23, dill, translated anise in the English Version, is mentioned instead of rue. Both dill and rue were cultivated in the gardens of Eastern countries in ancient times as they are at the present-day. Rue was highly esteemed as a medicine, even as early as the time of Hippocrates. Pliny says, ’Rue is an herbe as medicinable as the best. That of the garden hath a broader leafe, and brauncheth more than the wild, which is more hotte, vehement, and rigorous in all operations; also that is it sowed usually in Februarie, when the western wind, Favonius, bloweth.’ That it was employed as an ingredient in diet, and as a condiment, is abundantly evident from Apicius, as noticed by Celsius, and is not more extraordinary than the fondness of some Eastern nations for assafoetida as a seasoning to food. That one kind was cultivated by the Israelites is evident from its being mentioned as one of the articles of which the Pharisees paid their tithes, though they neglected the weightier matters of the law. Rosenmüller states that in the Talmud the rue is indeed mentioned among kitchen herbs; but, at the same time, it is there expressly stated, that it is tithe free, it being one of those herbs which are not cultivated in gardens, according to the general rule established in the Talmud.
A well-known garden herb, having a strong odor and a bitter taste. Our Saviour reproaches the Pharisees with their superstitious affectation of paying the tithe of rue, which was not in reality subject to the law of tithe, while they neglected the more essential parts of the law, Luk 11:42 .\par
Rue. Occurs only in Luk 11:42. The rue here spoken of is doubtless the common Ruta graveolens, a shrubby plant about two feet high, of strong medicinal virtues. It is a native of the Mediterranean coasts, and has been found by Hasselquist on Mount Tabor. The Talmud enumerates rue amongst kitchen herbs, and regards it as free of tithe as being a plant not cultivated in gardens. In our Lord’s time, however, rue was doubtless a garden plant, and therefore, tithable.
Luk 11:42.
The well-known plant, the common Ruta graveolens. It is only mentioned as a small thing which was tithed by the Pharisees. Luk 11:42. It is used in the East as a condiment and as a medicine. Four species of wild rue are found in Palestine.
RUE (
Hugh Duncan.
RUE (Luk 11:42).—The rue of Palestine is Ruta chalepensis, a variety of the officinal plant, which is cultivated as a medicine.
E. W. G. Masterman.
Rue. A garden herb growing one-half to one meter (two to three feet) high with gray-green foliage and clusters of small yellow flowers. Rue had a strong odor. It was valued for its antiseptic and disinfectant qualities. It was also used to flavor foods.
Rue is an aromatic plant from Eurasia with evergreen leaves that produce a strong-smelling oil once used in medicine.
There is little question about the correctness of the translation of "rue" in Luke 11:42, but there is some doubt about the exact species. Most scholars think that it was the common rue (Rue graveolens), a perennial shrubby plant with straight stems 0.6 to 0.9 meter (2 to 3 feet) tall and deeply cut leaves. A very strong odor comes from the leaves. This species is native to the Mediterranean region and grows wild in the Holy Land, especially on Mount Tabor.
Ancient people highly valued rue as a medicine. They believed it could prevent dizziness, inability to speak, epilepsy (seizures), eye inflammations, mental illness, and the "evil eye" (a belief that someone could cause harm by looking at another person). Rue was also used for adding flavor to food.
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.
Reference:”
Discussion:
In the Holy Land at the time of Jesus there was only one wild species of rue common, the Mountain Rue Ruta chalepensis, and it is likely the one referred to by Jesus in his rebuke of the Pharisees in LUK 11:42. The very similar cultivated rue Ruta graveolens was introduced from southern Europe later. Rue is common throughout the Middle East, from Syria to Sinai up to the present. Because of its strong smell it is used in cooking and in medicine up to the present. It was used by the Greeks, Romans, and Jews against snakebite and the stings of bees, wasps and scorpions, not to mention its effectiveness against insanity, epilepsy, and even “the evil eye.” In post-biblical Jewish literature rue is called pigam, which is cognate with the Greek pēganon and the Arabic fegan.
Description:
Rue is a small, shrubby plant that produces many branches at ground level, with many yellow flowers and very sharp-smelling leaves. It can reach up to a meter (3 feet) in height.
Special significance:
The ancient Jewish Talmud states that cultivated plants should be tithed. It is possible that the disagreement between Jesus and the Pharisees arose because by New Testament times the people were cultivating rue, dill, and similar plants that had not been cultivated before, and the Pharisees then applied the laws of the Talmud to these little plants, thus complicating the lives of the common people, while at the same time they ignored issues of justice and compassion.
Translation:
Depending on what translators do with “mint” in LUK 11:42, they may find a cultural substitute for “rue” or a generic phrase for “mint and rue and every herb.” Since the context is not rhetorical and the plant genus is limited to the Middle East, a transliteration of “rue” will be appropriate. Transliterations can be made from the Greek pēganon or from a major language. (The English word rue comes from Old English ruwe, which comes from Latin ruta and Greek rhyte.)
Plants and Trees in the Bible © United Bible Societies. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.