Exploring the Meaning of Kuminon in Greek

κύμινον refers to cumin. It appears in a single Gospel context where Jesus cites it as one of several small items scrupulously tithed while “the weightier matters of the law” are neglected.

Occurrences

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. But you ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.” (Matthew 23:23)

Here κύμινον stands in a tight list of items—“mint, dill, and cumin”—named as examples of meticulous tithing. The verse frames these as things the addressed leaders “tithe,” and the choice to name particular, small-scale products makes the practice vivid and concrete rather than theoretical: the conduct in view reaches down to everyday, countable goods. Within the sentence, κύμινον does not carry the main argumentative weight by itself; instead it strengthens the portrayal of exactness by adding another specific item to the inventory of what is being measured out.

The word’s force comes from the contrast created in the same breath: while mint, dill, and cumin are carefully tithed, “the weightier matters of the law” have been “left undone.” κύμινον therefore contributes to a rhetorical imbalance: careful attention to the smaller, nameable things is juxtaposed with neglect of the larger moral claims explicitly listed as “justice, mercy, and faith.” The verse does not condemn the tithing of such items as wrong in itself—“you ought to have done these”—but uses κύμινον (together with the other items) to depict a kind of narrow precision that can coexist with serious omission. In this scene, cumin belongs to the “other” duties that must not be “left … undone,” even as it remains subordinate to what is called “weightier.”

Sense and Usage

In Matthew 23:23, cumin functions as a representative, everyday commodity that can be handled in small portions and thus easily brought under precise accounting. By being singled out in speech alongside “mint” and “dill,” κύμινον helps paint the picture of a religious practice that pays close attention to the tithing of particular, tangible items. The emphasis of the sentence is not on culinary use or any feature of the plant itself, but on its suitability for illustrating careful enumeration: something ordinary enough to be present in daily life, yet specific enough to be named as a discrete object of tithing.

The surrounding phrasing shows how κύμινον operates within a moral comparison. The verse sets two clusters side by side: (1) “mint, dill, and cumin,” each tied to the verb “tithe,” and (2) “justice, mercy, and faith,” presented as “the weightier matters of the law.” κύμινον belongs wholly to the first cluster and gains its rhetorical role from that placement. It is one of the “other” matters that should not be abandoned; yet, by being grouped as an example of what is done while something else is left undone, it becomes part of a critique of priorities. The sentence’s logic allows both points to stand at once: the smaller items are not dismissed as irrelevant (“not to have left the other undone”), yet they are insufficient as a substitute for the weightier matters (“have left undone” justice, mercy, and faith). κύμινον thus serves as an anchor for the category of minor, countable obligations—good as far as they go, but unable to carry the center of the law’s demands.

The triple listing also gives κύμινον a cumulative effect. One named item might be taken as a single illustration; three in a row conveys a settled habit of precision. The word’s presence as the third element of the series (“mint, dill, and cumin”) adds to the sense of thoroughness: the speaker is not gesturing vaguely at “herbs” but naming multiple items as though they were regularly treated in this measured way. The overall picture is of exact practice that can be showcased by the recital of particulars. In that respect κύμινον functions less as an isolated noun and more as part of a deliberately concrete catalogue.

Finally, κύμινον gains its interpretive contours from the closing corrective: “But you ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.” In the flow of the verse, “these” points back to the “weightier matters,” and “the other” points back to the tithed items, including cumin. The word therefore sits inside a balanced admonition: the criticism is aimed at selective obedience, not at obedience in small matters as such. κύμινον helps define what counts as “the other” in this context—duties that are real, but that can be practiced in a way that distracts from, or masks, the neglect of justice, mercy, and faith.

Imagery

The imagery attached to κύμινον in Matthew 23:23 is the imagery of measured portions and careful division. By naming cumin among tithed items, the verse brings the discussion down to what can be sorted, counted, and apportioned, and then sets that concrete precision against moral realities described as “weightier.” The word therefore evokes the contrast between what is easy to itemize and what is harder to fulfill, without treating the itemized obligations as worthless.

Sources: Lexical data from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and the Translators Brief Lexicon of Extended Strongs for Greek (STEPBible, CC BY). Occurrence data from the Translators Amalgamated Greek New Testament (STEPBible, CC BY). Scripture quotations from the World English Bible (public domain).