Papyrus
Plants and Trees in the Bible
Papyrus is a very tall grass producing many flower stems that can be as much as 6 meters (20 feet) tall and 10 centimeters (4 inches) in diameter. The head at the top the stem separates into hundreds of branches that spread out like the top of a palm tree. Each one has small flowers.
Pictures
In the Bible
The Hebrew and Greek words for it, and every verse where each is used
גֹּמֶא gome’ · 4 verses
אֵבֶה ’eveh · 1 verse
What it stands for
Papyrus was the most versatile grass in the Ancient Near East. In Egypt it was used to make boxes, mats, ropes, and especially paper. Perhaps its use in boats came to the mind of Jochebed when she wanted to save her infant son Moses from the wrath of the Pharoah (). Job’s companion Bildad uses papyrus as an example of a plant that needs water, and further as a slam at Job suggesting he must have sinned ). refers to “ambassadors by the Nile, in vessels of papyrus” as emblems of the great political power of Egypt. Poor people also used papyrus for barrels, huts, sandals, and clothing. Perhaps surprisingly, papyrus was not usually used for baskets. The baskets of the Egyptians, like those in sub-Saharan Africa today, were made of coiled construction using a core of date palm leaflets, fibers, or the split midrib, with a fiber wrapped around the core, like a guitar string.
More about it
Although there has been considerable debate among botanists as to the identity of the various types of reed in the Bible, there is general agreement that the Hebrew word gome’ refers to the Papyrus Cyperus papyrus, based on etymological and practical grounds. As for the Hebrew word ’eveh, the phrase “skiffs of ’eveh in suggests that it refers to papyrus, since boats in Egypt were made of papyrus, apart from those made from wood. However, versions are divided between “papyrus” (NIV) and “reed” (RSV, REB) in this passage.
Also in Plants for weaving and building
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