Worm

"(1.) Heb. sas (Isa. 51:8), denotes the caterpillar of the" clothes-moth. "(2.) The manna bred worms (tola'im), but on the Sabbath there "was not any worm (rimmah) therein (Ex. 16:20, 24). Here these" "words refer to caterpillars or larvae, which feed on corrupting" matter. "These two Hebrew words appear to be interchangeable (Job 25:6; Isa. 14:11). Tola'im in some places denotes the caterpillar "(Deut. 28:39; Jonah 4:7), and rimmah, the larvae, as bred from" "putridity (Job 17:14; 21:26; 24:20). In Micah 7:17, where it is" "said, "They shall move out of their holes like worms," perhaps" "serpents or "creeping things," or as in the Revised Version," "crawling things, are meant." "The word is used figuratively in Job 25:6; Ps. 22:6; Isa. 41:14; "Mark 9:44, 46, 48; Isa. 66:24."

"Heb. la'anah, the Artemisia absinthium of botanists. It is noted" for its intense bitterness (Deut. 29:18; Prov. 5:4; Jer. 9:15; "Amos 5:7). It is a type of bitterness, affliction, remorse," punitive suffering. In Amos 6:12 this Hebrew word is rendered "hemlock (R.V., "wormwood"). In the symbolical language of the" "Apocalypse (Rev. 8:10, 11) a star is represented as falling on" "the waters of the earth, causing the third part of the water to" turn wormwood. "The name by which the Greeks designated it, absinthion, means undrinkable. The absinthe of France is distilled from a "species of this plant. The "southernwood" or "old man," "cultivated in cottage gardens on account of its fragrance, is" another species of it.