Aloe (bitter aloe)
Plants and Trees in the Bible
The leaves of aloe plants are stiff, fleshy spines that come out like fat knife blades from the center of the plant. They have spiny margins and are mostly solid green in color, but some are spotted or blotched. Most aloes have no visible stem, but some do have stems, and can reach a height of more than a meter (3 feet). The plants produce clusters of small red or yellow tube-like flowers that are borne on a stalk.
Pictures
In the Bible
The Hebrew and Greek words for it, and every verse where each is used
ἀλόη aloē · 1 verse
What it stands for
mentions aloe along with myrrh as a mixture brought by Nicodemus to embalm the body of Jesus.
More about it
The New Testament aloe must be distinguished from that mentioned in some versions of the Old Testament. In ; ; and some other places aloe refers to chips of fragrant wood from the agarwood tree found in northern India (see 4.1.1). However, the New Testament reference to aloe is to the True Aloe Aloe vera. This aloe originated in southern Africa, Arabia, and Madagascar. The gel-like substance in the leaves of the aloe has been used as medicine for centuries, especially to treat burns and abrasions of the skin. It is also used as a laxative, and in modern times as an ingredient in all kinds of skin creams, soaps, shampoo, and even as a drink (in Asia), or as an additive to tea.
Also in Ointment and balm (medicinal plants)
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