COCKLE (בָּאְשָׁ֑ה, darnel [useless weed]). Only mentioned in Job 31:40, “let thorns grow instead of wheat, and foul weeds [cockle] instead of barley.”

The cockle is Agrostemma githago, and grows about three to four ft. high. The flowers are rose pink, and the green stalks have a gray down on them. It is a common weed of Palestinian barley fields. If the seeds are harvested with the grain, the flour produced can be irritantly poisonous. There ought to be, therefore, complete elimination of cockle plants when the barley is growing.

The actual meaning of the Heb. word is “stink”; some consider, therefore, that the tr. should be “noxious weeds.”

A similar word b^eushîm is used in Isaiah 5:2-4; Jeremiah 2:21; Ezekiel 15:2-6. See Dried Grapes.