Hebrew word · H4844
מָרֹר
umerorim
bitterness
From the root m-r-r, "to be bitter." Maror means bitter, a bitter thing. The plural merorim used as a noun means "bitter things." Elsewhere the word is used figuratively for bitterness (Lam 3:15, "he has filled me with bitter things"). Here it is food: some kind of bitter plant eaten with the meat.
Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
bitter thing, bitter herb, 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
- Range of meaning
From the root m-r-r, "to be bitter." Maror means bitter, a bitter thing. The plural merorim used as a noun means "bitter things." Elsewhere the word is used figuratively for bitterness (Lam 3:15, "he has filled me with bitter things"). Here it is food: some kind of bitter plant eaten with the meat.
- Against the English
"Bitter herbs" (KJV, BSB, ESV, NASB, NIV, WEB) adds "herbs," which the KJV honestly prints in italics as a supplied word. YLT's "bitters" is closest to the Hebrew. The NLT's "bitter salad greens" is nearer the ancient reality than "herbs," which modern English uses for aromatic seasonings.
- How it drifted
In modern usage "herbs" are flavourings such as parsley, rosemary or thyme. In Ashkenazi Jewish practice, horseradish later became the usual maror, because the bitter lettuces of the Mediterranean were scarce in northern Europe. Both give modern readers a different picture from the original.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The Mishnah (m. Pesachim 2:6) lists the plants that qualify as maror: chazeret (lettuce, probably a bitter wild type), 'ulshin (endive or chicory), and three other bitter plants whose identity is less certain. The Septuagint uses pikrides, bitter greens such as chicory or endive. The Vulgate has lactucae agrestes, "wild lettuces." The Mishnah's Passover liturgy (m. Pesachim 10:5) explains the maror "because the Egyptians embittered the lives of our fathers," quoting Exod 1:14. That verse uses the same root: wayyemareru, "they made bitter."
Where it appears
Exodus · 1
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Exodus 12:8 מְרֹרִ֖ים bitter herbs
They are to eat the meat that night, roasted over the fire, along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
Here: "Bitters": a plural adjective used as a noun, "bitter things." The Hebrew has no word for "herbs." Ancient Jewish tradition understood it as wild bitter greens such as lettuce, chicory or endive.
Numbers · 1
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Numbers 9:11 וּמְרֹרִ֖ים and bitter herbs
Such people are to observe it at twilight on the fourteenth day of the second month. They are to eat the lamb, together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs;
Lamentations · 1
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Lamentations 3:15 בַמְּרוֹרִ֖ים with <the> bitter things
He has filled me with bitterness; He has intoxicated me with wormwood.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.