Henna in the Bible

This information is the result of my own research: pleasecontact meif you have questions, or would like further clarification or direction to sources. Please do not copy this information without proper citation.

Design based on Song of Songs 4:12

The Hebrew word כפר,kopher, is used several times in the Song of Songs, where it is generally accepted to refer to the henna plant; the henna plant is not mentioned explicitly elsewhere in the Bible. The wordkopherseems to be cognate with the Ugaritickprand the Aramaickuphra; it was transliterated askuphra(כופרא) in the Bible’s Aramaic translation, the Pesh*tta; askupros(κυπρος) in the Greek of the Septuagint; and ascyprusin the Latin of the Vulgate; the English translation, the King James Version (1611 CE) transliteratedkopherascamphire. Noted Biblical scholar and botanist Yehuda Feliks identifieskopheras henna and notes that “the identification [ofkopher] with the henna plant is unilaterally clear”. Due to confusion with the similar-sounding name,kopherwas sometimes mis-identified as camphor, a product ofCinnamommun camphora, an Asian tree not grown in Israel.

The first mention ofkopherin the Song of Songs is chapter 1, verse 14: ‘A cluster of henna [blossoms] is my beloved to me, in the vineyards of ‘Ein Gedi’. The wordeshkol, cluster, is usually used in Biblical Hebrew to refer to a cluster of grapes; its use here is apparently a reference to the clustered flowers of the henna plant which grow in a shape reminiscent of a cluster of grapes. This verse, therefore, seems to refer to the perfume of the henna flower and not to the use of henna as a dye; this is corroborated by the mention of henna in Song of Songs 4:12-13 with other sweet-smelling plants: ‘Yourshelaḥayikh[meaning unclear] are a garden of pomegranates with precious fruits, henna bushes with spikenard; spikenard and saffron, cane and cinnamon, with all frankincense trees, myrrh and aloes with all the chief spices’.

In Song of Songs 7:11 the plural formkepharimis used again: ‘Come, my beloved, let us go out to the fields, let us lie down under the henna bushes’. While the wordkepharimcan also mean ‘villages’ (and this is how it is rendered in older translations such as the King James Version), most modern translators render it ‘henna’ or ‘henna bushes’, noting that this translation better fits the sense of the verse and the intertextual allusions to Song of Songs 1:14.

It is possible that a woman’s hennaed hair is referenced in Song of Songs 7:6, although the wordkopheris not used: ‘Your head is like scarlet [or Carmel] and the locks of your head like purple’. Some scholars suggest that this refers to the purplish sheen of hennaed black hair, since elsewhere the woman’s hair is described as black. It is certainly possible that henna was known in the Biblical period as a hair dye. In fact, the earliest evidence for henna use in the Land of Israel are wigs of henna-dyed hair, dating from the Middle Bronze Age (1900-1550 BCE), which were found in the excavations of Jericho; furthermore, Greek and Roman historians specifically mention henna from the Land of Israel being used to colour hair.

The references in Song of Songs do not explicitly refer to henna use in body art, but rather seem to allude only to the fragrance of its flowers (and possibly henna-dyed hair). The Song of Songs is an erotic book, heavily laden with allusions to bodily love and sexuality; given the widespread use of henna in marriage ceremonies in Africa and Asia, it is therefore possible to imagine, as some have suggested, that the use of henna in marriage ceremonies was extant already in biblical times and that henna therefore had a connection to sexuality that its readers were aware of. Lying under the henna bushes (Song of Songs 7:11) would have been a powerfully fragrant and romantic experience, made even more so if henna had the same connotations of sexuality and marriage that it has in later periods.

However, there is no evidence that henna was used in marriage ceremonies anywhere during this period, and the references to henna in the Song of Songs do not seem to indicate any special connection between henna and sexuality or marriage, any more so than the dozens of other plants mentioned. Henna is not explicitly referenced anywhere else in the Bible.

The etymology of the wordkopheris not clear; some connect it to a hypothesized root meaning ‘to be reddish-brown’, which would be linguistic evidence that the use of henna for body art was known to the ancient Israelites. A more probable explanation, which would also support the use of henna as a dye, is that it comes from the basic meaning of the rootkpr‘to cover, to smear’ and refers to the act of spreading the henna paste. The wordkopheris used in Genesis 6:14 to mean 'pitch' or 'tar', and this usage is widespread across Semitic languages of the period (e.g. Assyriankaparu, 'smearing',kupru'pitch').The meaning of ‘smearing’ also developed into the metaphorical sense ofkprfor ‘covering’, or ‘ransom’ (alsokopherin Biblical Hebrew), and thereby ‘atonement’ (the origin ofYom KippurorYom haKippurim, the Day of Atonement); some have suggested that this arose out of a literal ritual of 'cleansing' an altar or sanctuary with a smearing of blood.

The word kopher is also likely connected to the metal with a henna-like colour, copper (also kupros in Greek), and is possibly the ultimate etymology of the island of Cyprus.

Sources and References:

Bergant, Dianne, David Cotter, Jerome Walsh, Chris Franke. 2001 Berit Olam: studies in Hebrew narrative and poetry: the Song of Songs.

Bloch, Chana, and Ariel Bloch. 1998 The Song of Songs: A new translation with an introduction and commentary.