To be (causatively, make ) bitter (or unpleasant); (figuratively) to rebel (or resist; causatively, to provoke )
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The Hebrew verb marah can describe rebelling against, resisting, defying, or provoking rightful command, and related forms can express bitterness or severe distress. Deuteronomy recalls Israel refusing the Lord's command and later acting presumptuously, Samuel calls king and people to obey rather than rebel, Isaiah's servant says his opened ear was not rebellious, and psalms confess repeated resistance.
Reader summary
Full entry for מָרָה (H4784) · Open the biblical lexicon
The Hebrew verb marah can describe rebelling against, resisting, defying, or provoking rightful command, and related forms can express bitterness or severe distress. Deuteronomy recalls Israel refusing the Lord's command and later acting presumptuously, Samuel calls king and people to obey rather than rebel, Isaiah's servant says his opened ear was not.
The BSB source-word alignment has 45 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include and rebellious (4), rebelling (4), rebelled (3), and rebel (2), both of you rebelled (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Numbers 20:10. Its strongest book concentrations include Psalms (10), Deuteronomy (8), Ezekiel (4), Isaiah (4).
The Hebrew verb marah can describe rebelling against, resisting, defying, or provoking rightful command, and related forms can express bitterness or severe distress. Deuteronomy recalls Israel refusing the Lord's command and later acting presumptuously, Samuel calls king and people to obey rather than rebel, Isaiah's servant says his opened ear was not rebellious, and psalms confess repeated resistance.
Other passages describe bitter affliction or people whose grief has made their spirit bitter. The semantic range prevents teachers from equating every difficult emotion, question, disagreement, or refusal of a human order with rebellion against God. David's men speak of stoning him because they grieve their children; their bitterness belongs to acute loss even though threatened violence remains wrong.
Moses calls the people rebels at Meribah and then speaks rashly, warning leaders that a true diagnosis of resistance does not excuse contemptuous or self-exalting speech. Responsible teaching identifies the command, its legitimate source, the hearer's response, and the passage's moral evaluation while protecting conscience, lament, lawful dissent, and resistance to abusive demands.
Marah describes resistance or rebellion against a command and can overlap with bitterness or provocation. Object, authority, verbal form, and narrative result distinguish covenant disobedience, presumptuous action, prophetic faithfulness, communal confession, grief-stricken bitterness, and leaders' rash speech.
If you fear the Lord and serve Him and obey His voice, and if you do not rebel against the command of the Lord, and if both you and the king who rules over you follow the Lord your God, then all will be well.
Samuel calls both people and king to fear, serve, and obey the Lord rather than rebel against His command.
And David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of every man grieved for his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord his God.
David's men become bitter in grief for their children and speak of stoning him, while David seeks strength in God.
For the Lord saw that the affliction of the Israelites, both slave and free, was very bitter. There was no one to help Israel,
The Lord sees Israel's bitter affliction, the suffering of slave and free, and the absence of any helper.
So I spoke to you, but you would not listen. You rebelled against the command of the Lord and presumptuously went up into the hill country.
Israel refuses to listen and presumptuously enters battle after previously rebelling against the Lord's command.
The Lord God has opened My ears, and I have not been rebellious, nor have I turned back.
The servant says the Lord opened his ear and he neither rebelled nor turned back.
For they rebelled against His Spirit, and Moses spoke rashly with his lips.
The psalm says the people's resistance grieved the Spirit and Moses spoke rashly with his lips.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Rebellion conceived as bitterness or sourness; inner resistance that makes relationship unpalatable to God
Rebellion conceived as bitterness or sourness; inner resistance that makes relationship unpalatable to God
to be (causatively, make) bitter (or unpleasant); (figuratively) to rebel (or resist; causatively, to provoke) BDB: be contentious Usage: bitter, change, be disobedient, disobey, grievously, provocation, provoke(-ing), (be) rebel (against, -lious).
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 45 lexical occurrence verses.
מָרָה is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Marah tests both obedience and the way authority interprets resistance. First Samuel 12 addresses Israel's king and people together under the Lord's command, refusing to make royal office the final measure of faithfulness. First Samuel 30 uses the word family for men whose souls are bitter with grief over captured children. Their threatened stoning is wrong, yet the narrative makes their loss visible and does not reduce them to a rebellious label.
Second Kings 14 says the Lord sees Israel's bitter affliction across social status when no helper remains, showing divine attention to suffering. Deuteronomy 1 describes a double refusal: the people first will not enter, then presumptuously attack after the Lord tells them not to go. Rebellion is defined by relation to God's actual command, not by forceful action or passivity alone.
Isaiah 50 presents the servant's opened ear and willing endurance. Psalm 106 says the people's resistance grieved the Spirit and that Moses responded with rash lips, so a leader's frustration still requires accountability. Faithful application teaches obedience to God, welcomes honest lament and questions, tests human commands, protects dissenters from retaliation, and refuses to make compliance with a leader equivalent to faithfulness.
Ps.106.33
Marah transliterates Hebrew מָרָה. The verb commonly takes the Lord, His mouth, command, word, or Spirit as the object of resistance, while related morphology can express bitterness; syntax and parallel terms distinguish disobedience from emotional distress.
New Testament texts call believers to obey God, test teaching, submit appropriately, resist evil, lament honestly, and refuse domineering leadership through distinct Greek terms. Those tensions help application without granting any pastor, parent, spouse, employer, or government unqualified divine authority.