מָרַר
mârar · H4843 · Hebrew · 16 occurrences
Meanings
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to taste bitter
State in which a liquid has a sharp, pungent taste; regarded as unpleasant and unsuitable for consumption; associated with anger and grief
ExamplesIsaiah 24:9 They do not drink wine with song; Intoxicating drink is bitter to those who drink it.
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to be embittered
Literally: to be bitter; hence: state in which humans are experiencing emotions of anger, resentment, and grief
ExamplesRuth 1:13 would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters; for it is much more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the LORD has come out against me.”
1 Samuel 30:6 Also, David was in great distress because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. But David felt strengthened in the LORD his God.
2 Kings 4:27 But she came to the man of God at the hill and took hold of his feet. And Gehazi came up to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for her soul is troubled within her; and the LORD has concealed it from me and has not informed me.”
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to attack bitterly, to assail bitterly
Literally: to act with bitterness; hence: action by which humans express their emotions of anger, resentment, and grief by engaging other humans in battle
ExamplesGenesis 49:23 “The archers provoked him, And shot at him and were hostile toward him;
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to weep bitterly
Literally to act with bitterness, hence the action by which humans express anger, resentment and grief by intense weeping
ExamplesIsaiah 22:4 Therefore I say, “Look away from me, Let me weep bitterly, Do not try to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of pleading, so that they will look at Me whom they pierced; and they will mourn for Him, like one mourning for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.
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to make hard
Literally: to make bitter; hence: causative action by which humans or deities cause (other) humans to experience emotions of anger, resentment, and grief by their actions
ExamplesExodus 1:14 and they made their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar and bricks and at all kinds of labor in the field, all their labors which they violently had them perform as slaves.
Ruth 1:20 But she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.
Job 27:2 “As God lives, who has taken away my right, And the Almighty, who has embittered my soul,
How it’s used In 5 roles
Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.
the word studied the word it goes with
Who or what does itSubject
16 occurrences in 11 groups
- Not stated: he, she or it 3
- Other words · 10 groups that occur once or twice (13) 13
What it acts on, or what is saidObject
3 occurrences in 3 groups
- חַיalive, living 1
- נֶפֶשׁsoul, life 1
- וֹhim 1
With prepositionsPrepositional phrases
11 occurrences in 11 groups
- לto/for+ נִיme 3
- Other words · 10 groups that occur once or twice (11) 11
With adverbsAdverbs
3 occurrences in 2 groups
- מְאֹדvery 2
- אַלnot, do not 1
After prepositionsPrepositional phrases
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- כlike/as 1
When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.
MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
In the other Testament 1 word
- πικραίνω pikraínō · G4087 · to make bitter, to be embittered, to have bitter hate
- Greek πικραίνω directly translates the Hebrew מָרַר's core sense of making/being bitter, representing the standard LXX rendering of this root across both literal (bitter taste) and figurative (embittered spirit, grief) domains.
Semantic domains 3 entries
- Bad002001001006
- The word denotes bitterness in a harsh, negative sense, as the Egyptians making the Israelites' lives bitter with hard labor.
- Angry002001002002
- The word can denote hostility or provocation, as Joseph's brothers provoking him and shooting at him with hostility.
- Grieve002001002013
- The word denotes deep grief and sorrow, as Naomi's declaration that the Almighty had dealt very bitterly with her.
Word family 13 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon H4843. marar I. מָרַר verb be bitter (Late Hebrew id.; Assyrian marâru and derivatives…
I. מָרַר verb be bitter (Late Hebrew id.; Assyrian marâru and derivatives DlHWB 427; Arabic become roused (of bile), II. make bitter, IV. become bitter; bitter; Ethiopic ; Aramaic , מְרַר); —
Qal Perfect3masculine singular מַר Isa 38:17 Isa 38:2t.; 3 feminine singular מָ֫רָה 1Sa 30:6; 2Ki 4:27; Imperfect3masculine singular יֵמַר Isa 24:9; — be bitter:
1 literal לְשֹׁתָיו שֵׁכָר יֵמַר Isa 24:9.
2 figurative נֶפֶשׁ מָ֫רָה 1Sa 30:6 the soul of all the people was bitter against (עַלֿ); מָ֫רָהלָֿהּ נַפְשָׁהּ 2Ki 4:27 her soul, it is bitter to her (i.e. she is in bitter distress); impersonal מִכֶּם מְאֹד מַרלִֿי Rth 1:13 it is very bitter to me on your account (I am much distressed), compare Lam 1:4. — מָ֑ר מַרלִֿי לְשָׁלוֺם Isa 38:17 is dubious; CheComm. for (my) welfare was it (so) bitter to me, (so) bitter, compare Brd; so De Kau (treating מר apparently as adjective ); < Drechsl. Di for my welfare did the bitter become bitter to me (מָ֑ר adjective); Lo Gr, compare Buhl (sub מַר adjective ), read מָר for מַר (√ מור), the bitter is changed for me into welfare; CheHpt strike out מָ֑ר; Du (after ᵐ5) strike out clause as gloss.
Pi`el Imperfect1singular אֲמָרֵר Isa 22:4; Isa 22:3masculine plural וַיְמָֽרֲרוּ Exo 1:14, suffix וַיְמָֽרֲרֻהוּ Gen 49:23; — make bitter, shew bitterness: —
1 ׳וַיְמ Gen 49:23 (poem) and the archers shewed bitterness (i.e. bitter hostility) toward him (suffix of indirect object); בַּבֶּכִ֑י אֲמָרֵר Isa 22:4 I will shew bitterness in weeping (= weep bitterly).
2 ׳וַיְמ אֶתחַֿיֵּיהֶם Exo 1:14 (P) and they made their lives bitter by slavery.
Hiph`il Perfect3masculine singular הֵמַר Rth 1:20; Job 27:2; Imperfect2masculine singular תַּמֵּר Exo 23:21 (but read תֶּ֫מֶר √ מרה
Hiph`il q. v.); Infinitive absolute הָמֵר Zec 12:10 (twice in verse); — make bitter, shew bitterness:
1 נַפְשִׁי הֵמַר שַׁדַּי Job 27:2 Shadday, who hath embittered my soul; מְאֹד לִי שַׁדַּי הֵמַר Rth 1:20.
2 עַלהַֿבְּכוֺר כְּהָמֵר עָלָיו וְהָמֵר Zec 12:10 and a bitter outcry (= literally shewing bitterness; || סָפַד מִסְמֵּד,) over him, like a bitter outcry over the first-born.
Hithpalpel Imperfect וְיִתְמַרְמַר Dan 11:11 and the king of the south shall embitter himself (be enraged); ׳וַיִּתְמ אֶלֿ Dan 8:7 and he was enraged against.
Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain
Topical studies with this word 2 entries
Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Sources
eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0
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