---
title: לַעֲנָה — wormwood · The Tanakh dictionary
description: לַעֲנָה (3939), a word of Biblical Hebrew, used 8 times: wormwood. BDB 1906: n.f. wormwood. With 2 verses in Hebrew, word for word and JPS 1917.
---

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# לַעֲנָה

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«לַעֲנָה» in the Tanakh dictionary: **wormwood** — how often it is used, MACULA's glosses, its meanings in the printed dictionaries and why they were chosen, and 2 verses in layers.

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**Used:** 8 times · **Key:** 3939 · **BDB:** לַעֲנָה

### Glosses

wormwood (8)

### Meaning (OSHB)

wormwood [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1500/3939/#m1)

### Meaning (BDB 1906)

n.f. wormwood [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1500/3939/#m2)

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**The whole BDB entry:** n.f. wormwood (NH id.; Arabic لَعْنٌ is curse (vb. لَعَنَ id.), so Nab. לענת (vb. לען) cf. CookGloss.);—only fig. of bitter things:—of perverted justice, Am 5:7; 6:12 (‖ רֹאשׁ); of result of idolatry, Dt 29:17 (‖ id.); of י׳’s chastisement Je 9:14 (‖ מֵי־רֹאשׁ), 23:15 (‖ id.), La 3:15 (‖ מְרוֹרִים), v 19 (‖ רֹאשׁ); sim. of bitter (מָרָה) result of intercourse with strange woman Pr 5:4.—On wormwood (Artemisia absinthium,) etc., Gk. ἀψίνθιον) cf. Löw 80 f. 401, 421 TristrNat. Hist. Bib. 493.

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Why these entries: BDB: headword, part of speech agrees, 8 of its verses cited, 1 words shared with the glosses, lists its Strong's number (1 candidates); OSHB: headword, part of speech agrees, 1 words shared with the BDB entry, 1 with the glosses (1 candidates)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every English meaning of «לַעֲנָה» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1500/3939/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.

### In the verses

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[Lamentations 3:15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/LAM.3.15/)

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הִשְׂבִּיעַ֥נִי בַמְּרוֹרִ֖ים הִרְוַ֥נִי לַעֲנָֽה׃ס

*Word for word:* he has.surfeited.me with.(the) bitter things he has.made.me.drink wormwood

*JPS 1917:* He hath filled me with bitterness, He hath sated me with wormwood.

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[Lamentations 3:19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/LAM.3.19/)

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זְכָר־עָנְיִ֥י וּמְרוּדִ֖י לַעֲנָ֥ה וָרֹֽאשׁ׃

*Word for word:* remember affliction my and homelessness my wormwood and poison

*JPS 1917:* Remember mine affliction and mine anguish, the wormwood and the gall.

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