cumin

Two controversial seeds are mentioned in Isaiah 28:25 and 27: qetsach (see nigella) and kammon. The seeds referred to as kammon are probably those of cumin (also spelled “cummin”), which takes its Latin scientific name Cuminum cyminum from the Greek. It was common to the Mediterranean area (especially in Syria) and Ethiopia, possibly even native to Egypt, where it was used in cooking and also as medicine.

The cumin plant belongs to the same family as the carrot. It branches abundantly from the base and has similar leaves and flowers. However, the seeds have a much sharper smell than those of the carrot. Cumin is planted and harvested each year, reaching a height of perhaps 50-60 centimeters (20-24 inches).

In Isaiah 28 cumin is cited with other garden plants to show how different plants and their fruits require different care and processing. (Cumin and nigella, for example, are more easily damaged in threshing than hard cereal grains would be). It is part of a parable Isaiah tells to the proud Israelite leaders who thought they knew how God deals with people. Interestingly, farmers in Malta still thresh cumin in the way described by Isaiah. In New Testament times the Jewish authorities were not sure whether cumin should be tithed since it was not mentioned specifically in the Mosaic Law. They took no chances and insisted that people tithe their cumin. But then they ignored the need for justice and mercy, thereby incurring the condemnation of Jesus in Matthew 23:23.

Translators will either transliterate “cumin” from a major language, or they can seek an equivalent, depending on what they have done with the other terms (“mint” and “dill”) in Matthew 23:23. Simplified versions may use a generic phrase such as “all kinds of small garden plants.”

Cumin, Wikimedia Commons

Source: Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

nigella

The English versions of Isaiah 28:25 and 27 reveal the confusion of the translators who have encountered the Hebrew word qetsach. It has been rendered “fitches,” “dill,” “fennel,” and “caraway.” Against all of these renderings, Zohary (Plants of the Bible. Cambridge University Press, 1982) 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 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.

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.

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.

The abundance of names for nigella is an indication of its popularity around the world. Fortunately the Latin name nigella is now replacing the confusing name “black cumin.” This is good because cumin is a totally different plant. Likewise, “nutmeg flower” and “black caraway” are losing favor. So translators can avoid the confusion brought on by the English by transliterating from a major language.

Nigella, Wikimedia Commons

Source: Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

wheat

Two kinds of wild wheat have grown in the open deciduous oak woodland in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent for several thousand years: Einkorn Wheat Triticum monococcum and Emmer Wheat Triticum dicoccum. Both came into cultivation together with barley. Just before the time of the Romans, the Naked Bread Wheat or Hard Wheat Triticum durum started replacing the hulled varieties. This then became the favorite type of wheat for bread and macaroni. Spelt is a sub-member of the Triticum aestivum species.

In NRSVue and some other versions, the generic Hebrew word bar has been rendered “wheat” in Jeremiah 23:28 et al. This is legitimate, since the grain referred to by bar was probably wheat. However, it might be better to say “grain” in these passages.

The most important early wheat for the Israelites was emmer, probably the only wheat known in Egypt, and referred to in Hebrew as chittah. However, according to Hepper (Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants: Flowers and Trees, Fruits and Vegetables, Ecology. Baker Book House, 1992), the seven-headed wheat of the Egyptian king’s dream (Genesis 41:5ff.) suggests that there may also have been Triticum turgidum (rivet wheat) in the emmer group. The Hebrew word kusemeth probably refers to a type of emmer wheat that the Egyptians called swt.

Wheat is a type of grass like rice and barley, growing to around 75 centimeters (2.5 feet) in height and having a head with many small grains in rows.

Bread made from wheat was the staple food for the people of ancient Israel, so God punished them by breaking “the staff of bread” (see, for example, Ezekiel 4:16).

If wheat is unfamiliar, translators can transliterate from a major language in non-rhetorical contexts (for example, English witi, Portuguese trigo, French ble or froment, Swahili ngano, Arabic kama/alkama). The transliteration may add a generic tag such as “grain.” The New Testament passages are mostly rhetorical, opening the possibility for a metaphorical equivalent.

Wheat head, photo by Gloria Suess

Source: Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

barley

Barley Hordeum distichum or Hordeum vulgare is a type of grass like wheat and rice. It has been cultivated in the Middle East for thousands of years and is now one of the most prominent seed crops grown in the world. Twenty species are known, of which eight are European. Barley needs less rain than wheat does, so in the Holy Land it was typically found in the drier areas above the coastal plain and near the desert. From 2 Kings 7:1 and Revelation 6:6 we know that barley was considered inferior to wheat and was often used to feed animals, as it is today. When the wheat supply ran out, people had to make their bread with barley. Barley was gathered before wheat, the harvest coming around March or April in the lower regions and in May in the mountains (see Exodus 9:31 et al.). In Egypt and in ancient Greece barley was used to make beer.

Barley plants look like wheat or rice. They are less than 1 meter (3 feet) tall, and have a single head on each stalk, with six rows of kernels, although the biblical kind may have had only two rows. The head bends at a down-ward angle when it is ripe.

In the story of Gideon and the Midianites in Judges 7:13, “a cake of barley” representing the (despised) Israelite army tumbles into the Midianite camp and knocks down the tent (representing the nomadic Midianites).

Barley is a plant of temperate zones, like Europe and the Near East; it does not grow well in the tropics. However, barley has been recently introduced along with wheat into many parts of the world for brewing beer and other malted drinks. It is also known to have grown in Korea as early as 1500 B.C. along with wheat and millet. It is becoming known in Malay as barli. Except for the reference in Judges, all references to barley in the Bible are non-rhetorical, so unrelated cultural equivalents are discouraged. Some receptor language speakers may coin a name for it as in Malay, or the translator can use a transliteration from Hebrew (se‘orah), Latin (horideyo), or from a major language (for example, Arabic sha’ir, Spanish cebada, French orge, Portuguese cevada, Swahili shayiri), together with a classifier, if there is one (for example, “grain of shayir”).

Barley, Wikimedia Commons

Source: Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

See also barley bread.

Translation commentary on Isaiah 28:25

This verse has another rhetorical question. However, this one expects a positive answer. It emphasizes that the farmer must plant the seed properly after preparing the soil if he is to have a good harvest. Instead of a question, Good News Translation uses statements again (see also the third example below).

When he has leveled its surface refers to the result of harrowing, mentioned in the previous verse. This line may be rendered “After he has leveled the soil.” More general renderings are “Once they have prepared the soil” (Good News Translation) and “When a field is ready” (Contemporary English Version).

Does he not scatter dill, sow cummin…?: Dill and cummin are two herbs used to add flavor when cooking. They are fine grass-like plants. Both are grown for the seeds they produce. These seeds contain oil that provides the flavoring. The Hebrew word for dill probably refers to black cumin (so New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), while the word for cummin refers to ordinary cumin. Many languages may have only one word for these two herbs (see the third example below). The verb scatter describes the manner of sowing the seeds of these two herbs. They can be grown in clumps since they are small and easily harvested. Languages that do not have terms for these specific herbs should remember that the focus in this verse is on a contrast between them and grain crops. So translators can use a general term for plants that are used to spice food.

And put in wheat in rows and barley in its proper place: For the verb put in, Good News Translation has “plant,” which fits this context well. Wheat and barley are grain crops that are much larger than the herbs. Each wheat and barley plant produces heads of grain. At harvest time the whole plant is cut down and then threshed to remove the grains for making flour. If translators do not have names for these two grains in their language, they can use a general term for “grain” (see 17.5).

The phrases in rows and in its proper place are problematic since they do not occur in the Septuagint and their meanings are uncertain. Revised Standard Version follows Masoretic Text, which we recommend. New Jerusalem Bible renders the Hebrew for in rows as “millet,” which is another type of grain. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project says “millet” is a valid alternative, so translators could place it in a footnote. However, we suggest following the traditional rendering that views this phrase and in its proper place as referring to the manner of planting wheat and barley. Both these grain crops had to be planted in rows, so they could be harvested easily. They also were the main food crops, so they each needed a large area to grow.

And spelt as the border: Spelt is a type of wheat that can grow in less fertile soil. Since spelt may not be a common grain in many places, translators may have to use a general expression, such as “other grain.” “Rice” and “maize” should not be used as alternatives, because they were unknown in the biblical Mediterranean area. As the border (literally “its border”) means the spelt was planted at the edges of the wheat and barley fields. New Jerusalem Bible says “around the edges,” and Revised English Bible has “along the edge.” The reason for planting spelt at the edges is uncertain, but some commentators suggest it was done to identify individual plots of land.

Translation suggestions for this verse are:

• When he has made the surface smooth,
does he not scatter black cumin and ordinary cumin seeds,
and plant wheat in rows,
barley in another area,
with spelt around the edge?

• After making the ground level, does he not scatter dill and cumin,
plant wheat in rows and barley in another plot,
and around the edge some other grain?

• He is sure to level the ground, then scatter cumin seeds,
plant rows of wheat and barley in another plot,
and spelt around the edge.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .