מַר

Genesis 27:34 וּמָרָ֖ה and bitter

When Esau heard his father’s words, he let out a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me too, O my father!”

Exodus 15:23 מָרִ֖ים [were] bitter

And when they came to Marah, they could not drink the water there because it was bitter. (That is why it was named Marah.)

Numbers 5:18 הַמָּרִ֖ים <the> bitter [things]

After the priest has the woman stand before the LORD, he is to let down her hair and place in her hands the grain offering of memorial, which is the grain offering for jealousy. The priest is to hold the bitter water that brings a curse.

Numbers 5:19 הַמָּרִ֥ים <the> bitter [things]

And he is to put the woman under oath and say to her, ‘If no other man has slept with you and you have not gone astray and become defiled while under your husband’s authority, may you be immune to this bitter water that brings a curse.

Numbers 5:23 הַמָּרִֽים׃ <the> bitter [things]

And the priest shall write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into the bitter water.

Numbers 5:24 הַמָּרִ֖ים לְמָרִֽים׃ <the> bitter [things], to bitter [things]

He is to have the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and it will enter her and may cause her bitter suffering.

Numbers 5:27 לְמָרִ֔ים to bitter [things]

When he has made her drink the water, if she has defiled herself and been unfaithful to her husband, then the water that brings a curse will enter her and cause bitter suffering; her belly will swell, her thigh will shrivel, and she will become accursed among her people.

Judges 18:25 מָ֣רֵי bitter of

The Danites said to him, “Do not raise your voice against us, or angry men will attack you, and you and your family will lose your lives.”

1 Samuel 1:10 מָ֣רַת [was] bitter of

In her bitter distress, Hannah prayed to the LORD and wept with many tears.

Here: A feminine adjective tied directly to the next word: 'bitter-of-'. This is a fixed Hebrew way of describing a person who is in deep anguish or desperation. It is not a description of resentment.

1 Samuel 15:32 מַר־ [the] bitterness of

Then Samuel said, “Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites.” Agag came to him cheerfully, for he thought, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”

1 Samuel 22:2 מַר־ bitter of

And all who were distressed or indebted or discontented rallied around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.

Here: 'Bitter of…' The word means bitterness of taste and, by extension, anguish, grievance and rankled rage.

2 Samuel 2:26 מָרָ֥ה bitter

Then Abner called out to Joab: “Must the sword devour forever? Do you not realize that this will only end in bitterness? How long before you tell the troops to stop pursuing their brothers?”

Here: A feminine adjective meaning 'bitter'. In Hebrew this is the taste of grief, resentment and an outcome that poisons. It continues the eating image: the sword eats now, and the aftertaste will be bitter.

2 Samuel 17:8 וּמָרֵ֥י and [are] bitter of

He continued, “You know your father and his men. They are mighty men, and as fierce as a wild bear robbed of her cubs. Moreover, your father is a man of war who will not spend the night with the troops.

Here: “Bitter” in the Hebrew sense of deeply aggrieved, in anguish, and therefore dangerous. It is not modern sourness or holding a grudge.

Esther 4:1 וּמָרָֽה׃ and bitter

When Mordecai learned of all that had happened, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the middle of the city, wailing loudly and bitterly.

Here: 'Bitter' in Hebrew means anguish and deep grief (Naomi, Ruth 1:20; Hannah, 1 Sam 1:10), not resentment. The phrase 'a great and bitter cry' closely matches Esau's cry when he lost his blessing (Gen 27:34).

Job 3:20 לְמָ֣רֵי to [people] bitter of

Why is light given to the miserable, and life to the bitter of soul,

Here: A plural adjective, 'to people bitter of…', linked to the next word. Job widens his complaint from himself to a whole class of sufferers. 'Bitter' here means anguish that tastes like gall, not resentment.

Job 7:11 בְּמַ֣ר in [the] bitterness of

Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

Here: "In the bitterness of." Bitter taste stands for grief and grievance together. It is the standard phrase for people crushed by loss, like Hannah in 1 Samuel 1:10.

Job 10:1 בְּמַ֣ר in [the] bitterness of

“I loathe my own life; I will express my complaint and speak in the bitterness of my soul.

Here: 'In the bitterness of', the inner state his words come out of. Hebrew 'bitterness of soul' means deep anguish and distress, sometimes with a fierce edge. It is not mainly a grudge.

Job 21:25 מָרָ֑ה bitter

Yet another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, having never tasted prosperity.

Psalm 64:3 מָֽר׃ bitter

who sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their bitter words like arrows,

Here: "Bitter." Here it means harsh, painful, poisonous in effect. It describes what the word does to the person it hits, not a resentful mood in the speaker.

Proverbs 5:4 מָרָ֣ה [is] bitter

in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword.

Here: Feminine, agreeing with 'end'. The basic sense is bitter taste, a direct reversal of the honey in verse 3. The word also carries anguish and grief, so the taste stands for misery.

Proverbs 27:7 מַ֥ר bitter [thing]

The soul that is full loathes honey, but to a hungry soul, any bitter thing is sweet.

Here: A bitter thing: harsh-tasting, unpleasant food such as wild herbs or famine fare. Elsewhere the word also covers bitterness of spirit, but here it is first of all a taste.

Proverbs 31:6 לְמָ֣רֵי to [people] bitter of

Give strong drink to one who is perishing, and wine to the bitter in soul.

Ecclesiastes 7:26 מַ֣ר bitter

And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a net, and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is ensnared.

Here: Bitter in the sense of galling, grievous, deadly to the spirit: the taste of wormwood and grief. A minority of scholars propose a rarer sense, 'strong' (see debates).

Isaiah 5:20 מַ֛ר לְמָֽר׃ ס bitter, into bitter

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.

Here: Bitter: first a taste, but in Hebrew also the word for anguish, grief and harm (as in a 'bitter soul').

Isaiah 33:7 מַ֖ר bitter

Behold, their valiant ones cry aloud in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly.

Isaiah 38:15 מַ֥ר [the] bitterness of

What can I say? He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done this. I will walk slowly all my years because of the anguish of my soul.

Isaiah 38:17 מָ֑ר bitterly

Surely for my own welfare I had such great anguish; but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

Here: The adjective repeats the verb: "bitter to me, bitter." Hebrew repeats a word to intensify it, so: "it was bitter, so bitter." English renders it "great bitterness" or "such great anguish."

Jeremiah 2:19 וָמָ֔ר and bitter

Your own evil will discipline you; your own apostasies will reprimand you. Consider and realize how evil and bitter it is for you to forsake the LORD your God and to have no fear of Me,” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.

Here: "And bitter". It is a taste word. Coming right after v. 18's question about drinking the waters of the Nile and Euphrates, and v. 13's "fountain of living waters", it suggests that what Judah went off to drink turns out bitter.

Ezekiel 3:14 מַר֙ bitter

So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the LORD upon me.

Here: An adjective describing Ezekiel himself: 'I went bitter'. In Hebrew this covers deep distress, agitation and fierceness, not only resentment. It stands in sharp contrast to the scroll that was 'sweet as honey' in his mouth (3:3).

Ezekiel 27:30 מָרָ֑ה bitter

They will raise their voices for you and cry out bitterly. They will throw dust on their heads and roll in ashes.

Here: 'Bitter', used as an adverb: they cry out bitterly, with the sharp, sour taste of grief. Hebrew 'bitterness' is anguish, not resentment.

Ezekiel 27:31 בְּמַר־ מָֽר׃ with bitterness of, bitter

They will shave their heads for you and wrap themselves in sackcloth. They will weep over you with anguish of soul and bitter mourning.

Amos 8:10 מָֽר׃ bitter

I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation. I will cause everyone to wear sackcloth and every head to be shaved. I will make it like a time of mourning for an only son, and its outcome like a bitter day.

Here: 'Bitter': here it means anguish and grief, as in 'bitter weeping' (Isa 33:7; Ezek 27:31), not resentment. The verse closes on this word.

Habakkuk 1:6 הַמַּ֣ר <the> bitter

For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans—that ruthless and impetuous nation which marches through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own.

Here: Used of people, 'bitter' means fierce, savage, dangerous when roused, like 'men of bitter soul' (Judg 18:25) or a bear robbed of her cubs (2 Sam 17:8). It describes how they behave toward others, not how they feel inside.

Zephaniah 1:14 מַ֥ר bitter

The great Day of the LORD is near—near and coming quickly. Listen, the Day of the LORD! Then the cry of the mighty will be bitter.

Here: Used here like an adverb, "bitterly." In Hebrew 'bitter' is the taste of anguish, grief and desperation, and in warrior contexts it can also mean fierce or savage (2 Samuel 17:8).