Nigella (kalonji, black cumin, black seed, charnushka, nutmeg flower)
Plants and Trees in the Bible
Nigella is planted and harvested annually. It grows to around 30 centimeters (1 foot) in height and has a lacy leaf like dill or carrot and a greenish-blue flower with five petals. The base of the flower becomes a seedpod that contains many round, black, sharp-smelling seeds.
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In the Bible
The Hebrew and Greek words for it, and every verse where each is used
קֶצַח qetsach · 2 verses
What it stands for
Nigella is used by Isaiah as one of several species in a parable he tells to the leaders of Israel. A farmer, he says, does not destroy the results of one season’s work while preparing for that of the next season. This is spoken to know-it-all scoffers who claim that God’s ways are completely fixed. Against that Isaiah says that God’s ways are according to the conditions of his creatures, as a farmer plants and harvests according to the needs of the various crops.
More about it
The English versions of reveal the confusion of the translators who have encountered the Hebrew word qetsach. It has been rendered “fitches” (KJV), “dill” (RSV, GNB, CEV, NLT, NEB, REB), “fennel” (JB, NJB), and “caraway” (NIV). Against all of these renderings, Zohary confidently asserts that the word qetsach refers to the Nigella plant Nigella sativa, also called by the names nutmeg flower, black cumin, black seed, charnushka, and kalonji. (The Hebrew word kammon in these verses refers to the ordinary cumin; see 3.5.3 Cumin (cummin)) Hepper agrees, apparently supported by Post, Moldenke, and others. The Aramaic and Arabic equivalent is qatscha. Jews, Arabs, and Europeans use nigella seeds to decorate cakes and bread up to the present. It is also used as a spice in cooking.
Also in Condiments
Sources
Plants and Trees in the Bible, Animals in the Bible and Human-made Things in the Bible © United Bible Societies, 2025 (adapted from Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible by Robert Koops, All Creatures Great and Small: Living Things in the Bible by Edward R. Hope, and The Works of Their Hands: Man-made Things in the Bible by Ray Pritz), CC BY-SA 4.0; adapted for eRhema