BITTER, BITTERNESS (מַר֒, H5253, מָרָ֔א and מֹרָה, H5289, bitter [lit. and fig.]; also bitterness, bitterly, heavy (Gen 27:34; Exod 15:23; Num 5:18-27; Ruth 1:20; Ps 64:3; Isa 5:20; Hab 1:6). Other forms are מָרֹר, H5353, and מְרֹרָה, H5355, which have the same force as indicated above (Exod 1:14; 12:8; Num 9:11; Job 13:26; Isa 24:9). Three other derivatives are מְרִ֣י and מְרִירִי, H5321, (Deut 32:24 and the margin of Job 23:2); the form תַּמְרוּרִימ֒, H9476, occurs, among other places in Jeremiah 6:26; 31:15. The NT employs the verb πικραίνω, G4393, to embitter; the adjective πικρός, G4395, bitter, and the noun πικρία, G4394, bitterness, for the same concepts (Col 3:19; James 3:11, 14; Rev 8:11; 10:9, 10).

Israel was commanded at the Feast of Passover to eat bitter herbs with the roast lamb and unleavened bread. The observance was meant to symbolize the bitterness and agony of their Egyp. servitude (Exod 1:14; 12:8). The rabbis of this day have prescribed the eating of horseradish as the fulfillment of this commandment.

A technical use of the word is found in the ceremony of the bitter water. This was a ceremonial test (or ordeal?) for infidelity in a woman in the case of a jealous husband (Num 5:18-27). The Scriptures record no instance when this test was carried out.

In speaking of the moral corruption of the nations in Canaan, Moses refers to bitter clusters of grapes (Deut 32:32), a fig. use to express their ethical nature. The sacred writer records the mental attitude and stern disposition of dethroned David and his followers as “bitter of soul” (2 Sam 17:8 ASVmg). Jeremiah describes Judah’s wickedness as bitter, so much so that it overwhelms the heart (Jer 4:18). In Amos’ denunciations of Israel’s sins he predicts the loss of their feasts and music with the replacement by sackcloth and mourning, all of it constituting a bitter day (Amos 8:10).

Habakkuk foretells the visitation upon his people of the Babylonians, “that bitter and hasty nation” (Hab 1:6). The reference is to their inconsiderate and cruel treatment of subject peoples, whom they considered much as the fisherman does his catch.

At Samaria the Apostle Peter was constrained to rebuke Simon the sorcerer sternly when he attempted to buy the gift of the Spirit. He accused Simon of being in the “gall of bitterness,” an expression intended to awaken the offender to the depth of his depravity and ungodliness. Throughout the epistle to the Hebrews the sacred penman writes against the background of possible apostasy on the part of professing Jewish believers. They are warned against “any root of bitterness,” which may refer to any sin which could develop into apostasy. The waters made bitter (Rev 8:11) may describe fig. any disasters yet to befall sinful men.

Bibliography T. K. Abbott, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistles to the Ephesians and to the Colossians, 293; G. Friedrich, ed. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, VI 122-127; IDB (1962), Vol. I, 443, 444; W. G. Williams; KB, 562, 565, 569; New Bible Dictionary (1962), 158; R. K. Harrison, “Bitter Herbs,” PBD (1963), 127.