Hebrew word · H4470
מֶ֫מֶר
umemer
bitterness
Bitterness. It is a noun from marar, 'to be bitter.' This is its only appearance in the Hebrew Bible, so its meaning comes from the root and from related words such as morrah and merirut ('bitterness').
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
bitterness
Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
From the study of Proverbs 17:25
- Range of meaning
Bitterness. It is a noun from marar, 'to be bitter.' This is its only appearance in the Hebrew Bible, so its meaning comes from the root and from related words such as morrah and merirut ('bitterness').
- Against the English
English 'bitterness' fits well, but today it can suggest resentment or holding a grudge. The Hebrew picture is mainly of a bitter taste and deep anguish, though resentment is not ruled out.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Related words: Proverbs 14:10 ('the heart knows its own bitterness'); Naomi, 'call me Mara' (Bitter), after losing her sons (Ruth 1:20); Hannah 'bitter of soul' over her barrenness (1 Sam 1:10). The vocabulary of bitterness clusters around women's pain over children. The Septuagint is usually reported as odynē, 'pain, anguish.'
Where it appears
Proverbs · 1
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Proverbs 17:25 וּ֝מֶ֗מֶר and bitterness
A foolish son brings grief to his father and bitterness to her who bore him.
Here: "And bitterness." This word appears nowhere else in the Bible. It comes from the root for 'bitter' (marar), the taste of grief that has gone sour and stays in the mouth.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.