Hemlock

Hemlock is a bitter plant, and Scripture uses it as a picture of injustice. Hosea 10:4 describes people who made empty promises and broke them: “They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.” A farmer expects grain from a furrow, and instead something poisonous grows there. Related bitter pictures are gathered with it, such as the gall given to the psalmist in Psalm 69:21, and Peter’s words in Acts 8:23 about a man being “in the gall of bitterness.” Hosea 10 is the place to begin.

3 verses

Psalms

Psalms 69:21

They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

Hosea

Hosea 10:4

They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.

Acts

Acts 8:23

For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

(1.) Heb. rosh (Hos. 10:4; rendered “gall” in Deut. 29:18; 32:32; Ps. 69:21; Jer. 9:15; 23:15; “poison,” Job 20:16; “venom,” Deut. 32:33). “Rosh is the name of some poisonous plant which grows quickly and luxuriantly; of a bitter taste, and therefore coupled with wormwood (Deut. 29:18; Lam. 3:19). Hence it would seem to be not the hemlock cicuta, nor the colocynth or wild gourd, nor lolium darnel, but the poppy so called from its heads” (Gesenius, Lex.).

(2.) Heb. la’anah, generally rendered “wormwood” (q.v.), Deut. 29:18, Text 17; Prov. 5:4; Jer. 9:15; 23:15. Once it is rendered “hemlock” (Amos 6:12; R.V., “wormwood”). This Hebrew word is from a root meaning “to curse,” hence the accursed.

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From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

the common ground or dwarf hemlock, a bitter, poisonous plant. The Hebrew rosh is rendered "hemlock" in two passages, (Hosea 10:4; Amos 6:12) but elsewhere "gall." [GALL] (It is possible that the plant is rather the poppy than an hemlock. --Cook.)