Hebrew word · H4472

מַמְרוֹר

mamerorim

bitterness

Bitter thing, bitterness. A noun built on the root m-r-r, 'to be bitter'. It is found only here, so its meaning is drawn from that root and from related words: mərōrîm (bitter herbs, Exod 12:8; bitter things, Lam 3:15), mar (bitter), mərôrâ (gall, poison, Job 16:13; 20:14).

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

bitter thing, 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 Job 9:18

Range of meaning

Bitter thing, bitterness. A noun built on the root m-r-r, 'to be bitter'. It is found only here, so its meaning is drawn from that root and from related words: mərōrîm (bitter herbs, Exod 12:8; bitter things, Lam 3:15), mar (bitter), mərôrâ (gall, poison, Job 16:13; 20:14).

Against the English

Most versions say 'bitterness'. YLT's 'bitter things' is closer to the plural, concrete form. NIV's 'misery' gives the sense but loses the taste.

How it drifted

In modern English 'bitterness' most often means resentment: a grudge someone nurses. Hebrew 'bitter' language mostly describes sharp grief, anguish and distress that happens to a person (Ruth 1:20; 1 Sam 1:10), pictured as a sickening taste.

Used elsewhere in the period

Job 3:20 'life to the bitter of soul'; 7:11 and 10:1 'I will speak in the bitterness of my soul'; 27:2 'the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter'. The bitter herbs of Passover (Exod 12:8) and the 'bitter water' (Exod 15:23; Num 5:18) show that the root is concrete before it is emotional. The Latin Vulgate has amaritudinibus, 'bitternesses' (plural).

Where it appears

Job · 1

  1. Job 9:18 מַמְּרֹרִֽים׃ bitter things

    He does not let me catch my breath, but overwhelms me with bitterness.

    Here: A plural noun from the root 'be bitter'. This is its only occurrence in the Bible. It names concrete bitter things, like bitter herbs or poison, that Job is forced to swallow. It is the experience of anguish, pictured as a meal.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.