רֹאשׁ (rosh)
rosh
poison
H:N-MQuick Reference
- Language
- Biblical Hebrew
- Testament
- Old Testament
- Occurrences
- 9 verses
- Root
- —
- Part of speech
- H:N-M
Definition
Definition
Brown-Driver-Briggs
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
What This Word Means for Your Faith
The Hebrew word for poison, rosh, appears in Scripture to describe the deadly results of turning away from God. It is not merely a biological toxin but a spiritual reality that corrupts justice and breaks trust. When people choose rebellion, their actions become like bitter vines that bring harm to themselves and others.
Seeing this word in the Old Testament helps us understand the seriousness of sin. It shows how quickly goodness can turn into something harmful when we reject God’s ways. This understanding drives us toward gratitude for God’s protection and His offer of clean, life-giving truth instead.
How it's translated
How this word is rendered word-by-word in the 9 verses where it appears, by frequency.
- poison4×
- like <the>/ poisonous plant1×
- into/ poison1×
- and/ poison1×
- and/ [the] poison of1×
- [the] poison of1×
Forms in the text
The inflected forms of this word as they appear in Scripture, by frequency.
- רֹאשׁ\־1×
- רֹ֥אשׁ1×
- רֹ֔אשׁ1×
- רֹ֑אשׁ1×
- ר֔וֹשׁ1×
- לְ/רֹאשׁ֙1×
- כָּ/רֹאשׁ֙1×
- וָ/רֹֽאשׁ\׃1×
- וְ/רֹ֥אשׁ1×
Key Verses
-
Deuteronomy 32:32
For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, of the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poison grapes. Their clusters are bitter.
This verse uses the word to describe the corrupt origin of Sodom's fruit, showing how sin produces bitter and deadly results.
-
Amos 6:12
Do horses run on the rocky crags? Does one plow there with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness,
Here the term is used metaphorically to show how leaders twisted justice into something poisonous for the people.
-
Jeremiah 8:14
“Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves! Let’s enter into the fortified cities, and let’s be silent there; for Yahweh our God has put us to silence, and given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against Yahweh.
The prophet describes poisoned water as a direct consequence of the nation's sin against Yahweh.