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laanah, ἄψινθος. This occurs in scripture only in a metaphorical sense. Turning to idolatry is compared to being a root that beareth gall and wormwood. Deut. 29: 18. Some turned 'judgement to wormwood,' probably alluding to the unrighteous judges. Amos 5: 7. Because of the wickedness of His people, God said He would feed them with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. Jer. 9: 15; Jer. 23: 15. Jeremiah, in lamenting over the condition of Israel, compared it to being drunk with wormwood. Lam. 3: 15, 19. On the sounding of the third trumpet in the Revelation, a star named Wormwood fell from heaven, and the third part of the waters were turned to wormwood, of which many men died: the moral sources of life will become destructive. Rev. 8: 10, 11. There are several species in Palestine: the Artemisia absinthium and A. chinensis are the wormwood of commerce.