Bible Encyclopedias
Nettles

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature

The word (charul) which is so rendered, occurs in three places in Scripture. Thus in , it is written, 'I went by the field of the slothful, etc., and, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles (charullim) had covered the face thereof.' So in it is stated that he was insulted by the children of those whom he would formerly have disdained to employ, and who were so abject and destitute that 'among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together;' and in , 'Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles, and salt-pits, and a perpetual desolation.' Considerable difficulty has been experienced in determining the plant which is alluded to in the above passages. The majority of translators and commentators have thought that some thorny or prickly plant, or a nettle, is intended. Hence brambles, the wild plum, and thistles, have been severally selected; but nettles have had the greatest number of supporters.

 

 

 

 

Bibliography Information
Kitto, John, ed. Entry for 'Nettles'. "Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature". https://www.studylight.org/​encyclopedias/​eng/​kbe/​n/nettles.html.