Bitter

Bitterness in Scripture functions both as a physical quality and as a rich symbolic register for affliction, misery, grief, and spiritual estrangement. In its literal sense, bitter water figures most prominently in the wilderness narrative at Marah, where Israel's complaint about undrinkable water was answered when Moses threw a tree into the water and it became sweet—a foundational demonstration of divine provision that also served as a test of Israel's trust. The waters of jealousy described in Numbers 5, administered to women suspected of adultery, were also bitter.

Symbolically, bitterness denotes the experience of slavery and oppression: the Egyptians made Israel's lives bitter with hard service before the Exodus, and the Passover meal included bitter herbs as a memorial of that bitterness. Naomi renamed herself Mara (bitter) because the Almighty had dealt bitterly with her in her bereavement. The Chaldeans are called the bitter and hasty nation in Habakkuk's complaint about divine justice. In the New Testament, Peter warns Simon Magus that he is in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity, and Hebrews warns against any root of bitterness springing up to cause trouble in the community. Revelation's angel gives John a scroll sweet as honey in the mouth but bitter in the stomach—the bittersweet nature of prophetic commission.