Thistle

Thorns and thistles first show up as part of a sorrow: “Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee,” God says to Adam in Genesis 3. After that, the thistle stays a picture of what is worthless or unwelcome. Job wishes for thistles to grow in place of his wheat if he has done wrong. A king of Israel tells a short story of a thistle in Lebanon that asks for the cedar’s daughter and is trampled by a wild beast, a warning against reaching too high. Jesus asks whether anyone gathers “figs of thistles,” and the fruit tells the tree.

5 verses

Genesis

Genesis 3:18

Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

2 Kings

2 Kings 14:9

And Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle.

2 Chronicles

2 Chronicles 25:18

And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle.

Job

Job 31:40

Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.

Matthew

Matthew 7:16

Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

(1.) Heb. hoah (2 Kings 14:9; Job 31:40). In Job 41:2 the Hebrew word is rendered “thorn,” but in the Revised Version “hook.” It is also rendered “thorn” in 2 Chr. 33:11; Prov. 26:9; Cant. 2:2; “brambles” in Isa. 34:13. It is supposed to be a variety of the wild plum-tree, but by some it is regarded as the common thistle, of which there are many varieties in Palestine.

(2.) Heb. dardar, meaning “a plant growing luxuriantly” (Gen. 3:18; Hos. 10:8); Gr. tribolos, “a triple point” (Matt. 7:16; Heb. 6:8, “brier,” R.V. “thistle”). This was probably the star-thistle, called by botanists Centaurea calcitropa, or “caltrops,” a weed common in corn-fields. (See THORNS.)

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From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

[THORNS AND THISTLES]