What does לַעֲנָה (laʿănāh) mean in the Bible?
לַעֲנָה (laʿănāh): Bitter plant symbolizing divine curse, poison, and the toxic consequences of idolatry or injustice.
Hebrew · H3939
לַעֲנָה
Wormwood (regarded as poisonous, and therefore accursed)
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לַעֲנָה H3939
Pronunciation laʿănāh
What does לַעֲנָה (laʿănāh) mean in the Bible?
לַעֲנָה (laʿănāh): Bitter plant symbolizing divine curse, poison, and the toxic consequences of idolatry or injustice.
Full entry for לַעֲנָה (H3939) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H3939?
The BSB source-word alignment has 8 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include into wormwood (2), wormwood (2), and bitter fruit (1), as wormwood (1), the wormwood (1).
Where does לַעֲנָה (laʿănāh) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Deuteronomy 29:18. Its strongest book concentrations include Amos (2), Jeremiah (2), Lamentations (2), Deuteronomy (1).
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It into wormwood 2× Amos 5:7, Amos 6:12
wormwood 2× Jeremiah 9:15, Jeremiah 23:15
and bitter fruit 1× Deuteronomy 29:18
as wormwood 1× Proverbs 5:4
the wormwood 1× Lamentations 3:19
with wormwood 1× Lamentations 3:15
Show sample aligned rows
Deuteronomy 29:18 וְלַעֲנָֽה׃ to and bitter fruit Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular Proverbs 5:4 כַֽלַּעֲנָ֑ה to as wormwood Preposition-k, Article | Noun - feminine singular Jeremiah 9:15 לַֽעֲנָ֑ה to wormwood Noun - feminine singular Jeremiah 23:15 לַֽעֲנָ֔ה to wormwood Noun - feminine singular Lamentations 3:15 לַעֲנָֽה׃ס to with wormwood Noun - feminine singular Lamentations 3:19 לַעֲנָ֥ה to the wormwood Noun - feminine singular Amos 5:7 לְלַעֲנָ֖ה to into wormwood Preposition-l | Noun - feminine singular Amos 6:12 לְלַעֲנָֽה׃ to into wormwood Preposition-l | Noun - feminine singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Deuteronomy 29:18
Aligned rows 8
Books represented 5
Deuteronomy 1 Proverbs 1 Jeremiah 2 Lamentations 2 Amos 2
Source forms
וְלַעֲנָֽה׃ 1x wə·la·‘ă·nāh Deuteronomy 29:18
כַֽלַּעֲנָ֑ה 1x ḵal·la·‘ă·nāh Proverbs 5:4
לְלַעֲנָ֖ה 1x lə·la·‘ă·nāh Amos 5:7
לְלַעֲנָֽה׃ 1x lə·la·‘ă·nāh Amos 6:12
לַֽעֲנָ֑ה 1x la·‘ă·nāh Jeremiah 9:15
לַֽעֲנָ֔ה 1x la·‘ă·nāh Jeremiah 23:15
לַעֲנָ֥ה 1x la·‘ă·nāh Lamentations 3:19
לַעֲנָֽה׃ס 1x la·‘ă·nāh Lamentations 3:15
Parsing patterns
Noun - feminine singular 4x Jeremiah 9:15, Jeremiah 23:15, Lamentations 3:15, Lamentations 3:19
Preposition-l | Noun - feminine singular 2x Amos 5:7, Amos 6:12
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular 1x Deuteronomy 29:18
Preposition-k, Article | Noun - feminine singular 1x Proverbs 5:4
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. Bitter plant symbolizing divine curse, poison, and the toxic consequences of idolatry or injustice.
Source Gloss
wormwood (regarded as poisonous, and therefore accursed)
Extended definition Source: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
Bitter plant symbolizing divine curse, poison, and the toxic consequences of idolatry or injustice.
wormwood (regarded as poisonous, and therefore accursed) BDB: wormwood Usage: hemlock, wormwood.
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
Metaphor for bitter judgment and poisonous false prophecy from the Lord
Symbol of bitter consequences and God's curse upon the disobedient people
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 8 lexical occurrence verses.
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain