[Heb., peʹsheth, pish·tahʹ; Gr., liʹnon].

A plant that has been cultivated from ancient times, the fibers of which were, as now, commonly made into linen. Flax (Linum usitatissimum) may grow from 0.3 to 1.2 m (1 to 4 ft) in height. The slender stalk of the plant, with its pale-green linear leaves, branches out only at the top. Each branch or branchlet terminates in a deep- or pale-blue (rarely white), five-petal flower.​—PICTURE, Vol. 1, p. 544.

When the flax had “flower buds” it was ready for harvesting (Ex 9:31), which was done by pulling or hoeing it up. The flax was then dried. Likely the stalks of flax on the roof of Rahab’s house at Jericho had been laid there for this purpose.​—Jos 2:6.

The method employed by the Hebrews in processing flax probably corresponded to the description given by Pliny the Elder of the first century C.E. in his Natural History (XIX, III, 17, 18) and to the ancient pictorial representation preserved at Beni Hasan in Egypt. After the seedpods had been removed, the stalks of flax were completely submerged in water and weighted down with stones to prevent them from floating. As the flax soaked in water, the woody part rotted, freeing the fibers. After the exterior part, or rind, of the stalks became loose, the stalks were taken out of the water and were repeatedly turned over in the sun until completely dry. The flax was thereafter beaten with mallets on stone slabs, and the fibers were separated and cleansed by combing. The inferior fibers next to the rind were used for lampwicks (see Isa 42:3; 43:17; Mt 12:20), whereas the interior fibers, whiter and of a finer quality, were made into yarn that was polished by striking it again and again on a hard stone.

Low ground and alluvial soil, so characteristic of Egypt, are said to be especially suited for the cultivation of flax. In the ancient world this country was famous for its fine linen. Thus the divinely sent plague of hail, which ruined the flax and the barley, was a severe blow to the economy of  Egypt. (Ex 9:23, 31) Later, the pronouncement against Egypt, recorded by Isaiah (19:9), included “the workers in carded flax” among those who would become ashamed.​—See LINEN.