What does מַר (mar) mean in the Bible?
Bitter can describe a taste or an experience of deep distress, and the passage must establish which use is present. Israel cannot drink the bitter water at Marah.
Hebrew · H4751
מַר
Bitter can describe a taste or an experience of deep distress, and the passage must establish which use is present. Israel cannot drink the bitter water at Marah.
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מַרH4751
Pronunciationmar
What does מַר (mar) mean in the Bible?
Reader summary
Full entry for מַר (H4751) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H4751?
The BSB source-word alignment has 39 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include in the bitterness (3), the bitter (3), and bitter (2), bitter (2), bitterly (2).
Where does מַר (mar) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 27:34. Its strongest book concentrations include Numbers (6), Isaiah (5), Ezekiel (4), Job (4).
What This Word Actually Means
Bitter can describe a taste or an experience of deep distress, and the passage must establish which use is present. Israel cannot drink the bitter water at Marah. Hannah prays and weeps in bitter distress, then explains that she is pouring out her soul rather than behaving as Eli first assumes. Isaiah uses bitter and sweet in a warning against reversing moral judgments.
These settings concern an undrinkable resource, a grieving person's prayer and a stated comparison about good and evil. The adjective does not make every distressed person morally rebellious, nor does a literal taste supply a diagnosis of someone's inner life. Hear what is bitter, who is speaking and how the account responds. Honest grief can be brought before the Lord without being recast as malice merely because English also uses bitterness for hostile conduct.
How the Bible Uses It
Bitter water, Hannah's bitter distress and Isaiah's bitter-sweet reversal require different readings. The object, praying speaker and explicit moral comparison govern the word's role rather than one verdict attached to every occurrence.
- Exod.15.23
And when they came to Marah, they could not drink the water there because it was bitter. (That is why it was named Marah.)
The water is bitter and therefore undrinkable after three days without water; the people's question and Moses' cry follow an actual need rather than an abstract emotional diagnosis.
- 1Sam.1.10
In her bitter distress, Hannah prayed to the Lord and wept with many tears.
Hannah's bitter distress is accompanied by prayer and tears, and her later explanation corrects Eli's mistaken assumption about her conduct rather than identifying her as a wicked woman.
- Isa.5.20
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness to light and light to darkness, who replace bitter with sweet and sweet with bitter.
Bitter and sweet join good and evil, darkness and light in the prophet's warning against moral reversal; the comparison is explicitly stated in the oracle.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Itin the bitterness3×Job 7:11, Job 10:1, Job 21:25
the bitter3×Numbers 5:18, Numbers 5:23, Numbers 5:24
and bitter2×Genesis 27:34, Ezekiel 27:31
bitter2×Numbers 5:19, Isaiah 5:20
bitterly2×Isaiah 33:7, Ezekiel 27:30
in bitterness2×2 Samuel 2:26, Ezekiel 3:14
to the bitter2×Job 3:20, Proverbs 31:6
and as fierce1×2 Samuel 17:8
and bitter it is1×Jeremiah 2:19
and bitterly1×Esther 4:1
and cause bitter suffering1×Numbers 5:27
and may cause her bitter1×Numbers 5:24
angry1×Judges 18:25
bitter thing1×Proverbs 27:7
how bitter it is1×Jeremiah 4:18
I had such great1×Isaiah 38:17
In her bitter distress1×1 Samuel 1:10
is bitter with anguish1×Lamentations 1:4
like a bitter1×Amos 8:10
more bitter1×Ecclesiastes 7:26
or discontented1×1 Samuel 22:2
she is bitter1×Proverbs 5:4
that ruthless1×Habakkuk 1:6
the anguish1×Isaiah 38:15
the bitterness1×1 Samuel 15:32
their bitter1×Psalms 64:3
was bitter1×Exodus 15:23
will be bitter1×Zephaniah 1:14
with anguish1×Ezekiel 27:31
with bitter1×Isaiah 5:20
Show sample aligned rows
Genesis 27:34וּמָרָ֖הtoand bitterConjunctive waw | Adjective - feminine singularExodus 15:23מָרִ֖יםtowas bitterAdjective - masculine pluralNumbers 5:18הַמָּרִ֖יםtothe bitterArticle | Adjective - masculine pluralNumbers 5:19הַמָּרִ֥יםtobitterArticle | Adjective - masculine pluralNumbers 5:23הַמָּרִֽים׃tothe bitterArticle | Adjective - masculine pluralNumbers 5:24הַמָּרִ֖יםtothe bitterArticle | Adjective - masculine pluralNumbers 5:24לְמָרִֽים׃toand may cause her bitterPreposition-l | Adjective - masculine pluralNumbers 5:27לְמָרִ֔יםtoand cause bitter sufferingPreposition-l | Adjective - masculine pluralJudges 18:25מָ֣רֵיtoangryAdjective - masculine plural construct1 Samuel 1:10מָ֣רַתtoIn her bitter distressAdjective - feminine singular construct
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowGenesis 27:34
Aligned rows39
Books represented18
Genesis1Exodus1Numbers6Judges11 Samuel32 Samuel2Esther1Job4Psalms1Proverbs3Ecclesiastes1Isaiah5Jeremiah2Lamentations1Ezekiel4Amos1Habakkuk1Zephaniah1
Source forms
מַר־4xmar-1 Samuel 15:32, 1 Samuel 22:2, Isaiah 38:17, Lamentations 1:4
מַ֥ר3xmarProverbs 27:7, Isaiah 38:15, Zephaniah 1:14
מָֽר׃3xmārPsalms 64:3, Ezekiel 27:31, Amos 8:10
בְּמַ֣ר2xbə·marJob 7:11, Job 10:1
הַמָּרִ֖ים2xham·mā·rîmNumbers 5:18, Numbers 5:24
לְמָ֣רֵי2xlə·mā·rêJob 3:20, Proverbs 31:6
מָרָ֑ה2xmā·rāhJob 21:25, Ezekiel 27:30
בְּמַר־1xbə·mar-Ezekiel 27:31
Parsing patterns
Adjective - masculine singular11xPsalms 64:3, Proverbs 27:7, Ecclesiastes 7:26, Isaiah 5:20
Adjective - feminine singular4x2 Samuel 2:26, Job 21:25, Proverbs 5:4, Ezekiel 27:30
Article | Adjective - masculine plural4xNumbers 5:18, Numbers 5:19, Numbers 5:23, Numbers 5:24
Adjective - masculine singular construct3x1 Samuel 15:32, 1 Samuel 22:2, Isaiah 38:15
Preposition-b | Adjective - masculine singular construct3xJob 7:11, Job 10:1, Ezekiel 27:31
Conjunctive waw | Adjective - feminine singular2xGenesis 27:34, Esther 4:1
Preposition-l | Adjective - masculine plural2xNumbers 5:24, Numbers 5:27
Preposition-l | Adjective - masculine plural construct2xJob 3:20, Proverbs 31:6
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Allow honest lament and avoid using a vocabulary label to silence a person describing grief or inflicted harm.
- This lexical distinction gives no clinical diagnosis, prescribed treatment or judgment about a particular person's mental health.
Avoid claiming...
- Every bitter experience is not sinful resentment, since Hannah's bitter distress is described in her prayer before the Lord.
- A named judgment oracle cannot establish that each modern sorrow is caused by the sufferer's apostasy or moral failure.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. Bitter connotes emotional anguish and divine judgment; spans physical taste to inner suffering and divine wrath.
Strong'sH4751
Lexical occurrences39 versesWord forms1 form22 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Study linkProverbs 14:10Source Gloss
bitter (literally or figuratively); also (as noun) bitterness , or (adverbially) bitterly
Extended definitionSource: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
Bitter connotes emotional anguish and divine judgment; spans physical taste to inner suffering and divine wrath.
bitter (literally or figuratively); also (as noun) bitterness, or (adverbially) bitterly BDB: bitter Usage: angry, bitter(-ly, -ness), chafed, discontented, × great, heavy.
Grammatical Forms
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Form groups1Aligned forms22
Qalbasic active stem — the word in its most common, direct sense1×
PerfectLam 1:41×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
Emotional distress and sorrow known only to the individual experiencing it
Something unpalatable or disagreeable in contrast to what is sweet
The painful, destructive consequences of pursuing forbidden relationships
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 39 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
מַר is built from this root:
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
For the Preacher and Teacher
Hannah's bitter distress brings her to prayer, not away from the Lord. Eli sees her moving lips and initially judges her to be drunk, but she explains that she has poured out her soul from anguish and grief. A teacher must preserve that correction rather than allowing an English association between bitterness and resentment to turn her tears into an accusation.
Marah's water is bitter in another way: the people face an actual drinking-water problem. Isaiah gives the contrast an expressly moral function by condemning those who reverse good and evil, darkness and light, bitter and sweet. The word therefore asks for contextual care. It may name a physical condition, deep suffering or a comparison within judgment, but none of those settings supplies a universal verdict against everyone who describes life as bitter.
Compassion and moral clarity both depend on hearing the particular passage truthfully.
Anchor passage
1Sam.1.10
Doctrinal connections
- Exodus 15:22-25 names the bitter water, the people's drinking need, Moses' cry and the Lord's shown response.
- First Samuel 1:10-17 joins Hannah's bitter distress with prayer and her correction of Eli's mistaken accusation.
- Job 7:11-13 preserves Job's anguished speaking as his own lament rather than a universal declaration about every sufferer's cause.
- Isaiah 5:18-23 places bitter and sweet within the oracle's condemnation of reversed moral judgments and corrupt justice.
- Proverbs 27:7 contrasts the response of a full person and a hungry person to honey and bitter food.
- Jeremiah 2:17-19 explicitly connects the named people's bitter forsaking of the Lord with their own evil and apostasies.
The licensed Hebrew range includes literal bitterness and figurative bitter distress. The selected water and prayer contexts supply different objects, while Isaiah states a moral comparison. The adjective should not be turned into a clinical category, and another language's conduct term must not replace the meaning established in Hannah's account.
From Old to New Testament
Ephesians 4:29-32 explicitly rejects bitterness alongside rage, slander and malice while calling for kindness and tenderheartedness. That Greek moral instruction must be heard in its own setting without retroactively labeling Hannah's Hebrew bitter distress as the conduct Paul rejects. Shared English wording does not erase different objects and contextual assessments.