'Bitter' in the Bible

and they were a source of grief to [Esau’s parents] Isaac and Rebekah.

When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with a great and extremely bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!”

They made their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar, brick, and all kinds of field work. All their labor was harsh and severe.

They shall eat the meat that same night, roasted in fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

Then they came to Marah, but they could not drink its waters because they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah (bitter).

On the fourteenth day of the second month [thirty days later] at twilight, they shall observe it; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

“For their vine is from the vine of Sodom,And from the fields of Gomorrah;Their grapes are grapes of poison,Their clusters, bitter.

would you wait until they were grown? Would you go without marrying? No, my daughters; for it is much more difficult for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has gone against me.”

She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi (sweetness); call me Mara (bitter), for the Almighty has caused me great grief and bitterness.

Do not regard your maidservant as a wicked and worthless woman, for I have spoken until now out of my great concern and [bitter] provocation.”

When she came to the mountain to the man of God, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi approached to push her away; but the man of God said, “Let her alone, for her soul is desperate and troubled within her; and the Lord has hidden the reason from me and has not told me.”

For the Lord saw the affliction (suffering) of Israel as very bitter; there was no one left, bond or free, nor any helper for Israel.

Now when Mordecai learned of everything that had been done, he tore his clothes [in mourning], and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the center of the city and cried out loudly and bitterly.

“Why is the light given to him who is in misery,And life to the bitter in soul,

“For You write bitter things against me [in Your indictment]And make me inherit and suffer for the iniquities of my youth.

“Even today my complaint is contentious;His hand is heavy despite my groaning.

They (self-righteous hypocrites) also gave me gall [poisonous and bitter] for my food,And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

But in the end she is bitter like [the extract of] wormwood,Sharp as a two-edged sword.

He who is satisfied loathes honey,But to the hungry soul any bitter thing is sweet.

Give strong drink [as medicine] to him who is ready to pass away,And wine to him whose life is bitter.

And I discovered that [of all irrational sins none has been so destructive in beguiling one away from God as immoral women for] more bitter than death is the woman whose heart is [composed of] snares and nets, and whose hands are chains. Whoever pleases God will escape from her, but the sinner will be taken captive by her [evil].

Woe (judgment is coming) to those who call evil good, and good evil;Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

They do not drink wine with a song;Strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.

“Your own wickedness will discipline you,And your desertion of the faith will punish you.Know therefore that it is an evil and bitter thingFor you to abandon (reject) the Lord your God,And for you to be indifferent to Me and dismiss the [reverent] fear of Me,” says the Lord God of hosts.

“[Cease your mad running after idols to]Keep your feet from becoming bareAnd your throat from becoming dry;But you said, ‘It is hopeless!For I have loved strangers and foreign gods,And I will walk after them.’

“Your ways and your deedsHave brought these things on you.This is your tragedy and doom; how bitter,How it has touched your heart!”

O daughter of my people [says Jeremiah],Clothe yourself in sackcloth and wallow in ashes;Mourn [aloud] as for an only son,A most bitter cry [of sorrow and regret],For suddenly the destroyer will come upon us [on both prophet and people].

Why are we sitting still [the people wonder]?Assemble yourselves, and let us enter the fortified citiesAnd let us die there,For the Lord our God has decreed our ruinAnd given us bitter and poisonous water to drink,Because we have sinned against the Lord.

therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them bitter and poisonous water to drink.

Thus says the Lord,“A voice is heard in Ramah,Lamentation (songs of mourning) and bitter weeping.Rachel (Israel) is weeping for her children;She refuses to be comforted for her children,Because they are gone.”

“And they will make themselves [completely] bald for youAnd wrap themselves in sackcloth;And in bitterness of soul they will weep for youWith bitter mourning and wailing.

Ephraim has provoked most bitter anger;So his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him [invoking punishment]And bring back to him his shame and dishonor.

“And I shall turn your festivals and feasts into mourningAnd all your songs into dirges (funeral poems to be sung);And I shall cause sackcloth to be put on everyone’s loinsAnd baldness on every head [shaved for mourning].And I shall make that time like a time of mourning for an only son [who has died],And the end of it shall be like a bitter day.

“On that day they shall take up a [taunting, deriding] parable against youAnd wail with a doleful and bitter song of mourning and say,‘We are completely destroyed!God exchanges the inheritance of my people;How He removes it from me!He divides our fields to the rebellious [our captors].’

“For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans [who rule in Babylon],That fierce and impetuous nationWho march throughout the earthTo take possession of dwelling places that do not belong to them.