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The Blue Letter Bible

Dictionaries :: Tares

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Easton's Bible Dictionary

Tares:

the bearded darnel, mentioned only in Mat 13:25-30. It is the Lolium temulentum, a species of rye-grass, the seeds of which are a strong soporific poison. It bears the closest resemblance to wheat till the ear appears, and only then the difference is discovered. It grows plentifully in Syria and Palestine.

International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia

Tares:

tarz (zizania (Mt 13:25 ), margin "darnel"): Zizania is equivalent to Arabic zuwan, the name given to several varieties of darnel of which Lolium temulentum, the "bearded darnel," is the one most resembling wheat, and has been supposed to be degenerated wheat. On the near approach of harvest it is carefully weeded out from among the wheat by the women and children. Zuwan is commonly used as chickens' food; it is not poisonous to human beings unless infected with the mold ergot.

King James Dictionary

Tares: Weeds Found in Grain.

Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed TARES among the wheat, and went his way. (Matthew 13:24-25)

Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words
1 Strong's Number: g2215 Greek: zizanion

Tares:

is a kind of darnel, the commonest of the four species, being the bearded, growing in the grain fields, as tall as wheat and barley, and resembling wheat in appearance. It was credited among the Jews with being degenerate wheat. The rabbis called it "bastard." The seeds are poisonous to man and herbivorous animals, producing sleepiness, nausea, convulsions and even death (they are harmless to poultry). The plants can be separated out, but the custom, as in the parable, is to leave the cleaning out till near the time of harvest, Mat 13:25-27, 29, 30, 36, 38, 40. The Lord describes the tares as "the sons of the evil one;" false teachings are indissociable from their propagandists. For the Lord's reference to the Kingdom see KINGDOM.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Tares:

There can be little doubt that the zizania of the parable (Matthew 13:25) denotes the weed called "darnel" (Lolium temulentum.) The darnel before it comes into ear is very similar in appearance to wheat; hence the command that the zizania should be left to the harvest, lest while men plucked up the tares "they should root up also the wheat with them." Dr. Stanley, however, speaks of women and children picking up from the wheat in the cornfields of Samaria the tall green stalks, still called by the Arabs zuwan. "These stalks," he continues, "if sown designedly throughout the fields, would be inseparable from the wheat, from which, even when growing naturally and by chance, they are at first sight hardly distinguishable." See also Thomson ("The Land and the Book" p. 420): "The grain is in just the proper stage to illustrate the parable. In those parts where the grain has headed out, the tares have done the same, and then a child cannot mistake them for wheat or barley; but where both are less developed, the closest scrutiny will often fail to detect them. Even the farmers, who in this country generally weed their fields, do not attempt to separate the one from the other." The grains of the L. temulentum, if eaten, produce convulsions, and even death.

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