48 Bible Verses about Bitterness

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor [perpetual animosity, resentment, strife, fault-finding] and slander be put away from you, along with every kind of malice [all spitefulness, verbal abuse, malevolence].

See to it that no one falls short of God’s grace; that no root of resentment springs up and causes trouble, and by it many be defiled;

A foolish son is a grief and anguish to his father
And bitterness to her who gave birth to him.

The heart knows its own bitterness,
And no stranger shares its joy.

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!

Whereas another dies with a bitter soul,
Never even tasting pleasure or good fortune.

The name of the star is Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the waters, because they had become bitter (toxic).

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].

So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went embittered [by the sins of Israel] in the rage of my spirit; and the hand of the Lord was strong on me.

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

Does a spring send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water?

“I am disgusted with my life and loathe it!
I will give free expression to my complaint;
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

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

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

But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be arrogant, and [as a result] be in defiance of the truth.

For I see that you are provoked by bitterness and bound by sin.”

When my heart was embittered
And I was pierced within [as with the fang of an adder],

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

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

Hannah was greatly distressed, and she prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish.

Husbands, love your wives [with an affectionate, sympathetic, selfless love that always seeks the best for them] and do not be embittered or resentful toward them [because of the responsibilities of marriage].

“Indeed, it was for my own well-being that I had such bitterness;
But You have loved back my life from the pit of nothingness (destruction),
For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

But Jesus replied, “You do not realize what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup [of suffering] that I am about to drink?” They answered, “We are able.”

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

You who have shown me many troubles and distresses
Will revive and renew me again,
And will bring me up again from the depths of the earth.

“Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”

“As God lives, who has taken away my right and denied me justice,
And the Almighty, who has caused bitterness and grief for my soul,

“For those [shall be consumed] who turn justice into wormwood (bitterness)
And cast righteousness down to the earth.”

“And I shall turn your festivals and feasts into mourning
And all your songs into dirges (funeral poems to be sung);
And I shall cause sackcloth to be put on everyone’s loins
And 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.

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

Then the men of the city said to Elisha, “Look, this city is in a pleasant place, as my lord [Elisha] sees; but the water is bad and the land is barren.”

So I went up to the angel and told him to give me the little book. And he said to me, “Take it and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.”

so that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go and serve the [false] gods of these nations; so that there will not be among you a root [of idolatry] bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood (bitterness).

Then Samuel said, “Bring me Agag, the king of the Amalekites.” And Agag came to him cheerfully. And Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death has come to an end.”

and he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings a curse, and the water that brings the curse will go into her and cause bitterness.

‘The priest shall then write these curses on a scroll and shall wash them off into the water of bitterness;

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

“He will not allow me to catch my breath,
But fills and saturates me with bitterness.

“The [skilled] archers have bitterly attacked and provoked him;
They have shot [at him] and harassed him.

“What shall I say?
For He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it;
I will wander aimlessly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.

Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts in regard to the prophets,

‘Behold, I am going to feed them [the bitterness of] wormwood
And make them drink the poisonous water [of gall],
For from the [counterfeit] prophets of Jerusalem
Profaneness and ungodliness have spread into all the land.’”

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!”

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

When he has made her drink the water, then it shall come about, that if she has defiled herself and has been unfaithful to her husband, the curse water will go into her and cause bitterness and cause her abdomen to swell and her thigh to waste away, and the woman will become a curse among her people.

As for you, son of man, groan with breaking heart and bitter grief, groan in their sight.

A calm and peaceful and tranquil heart is life and health to the body,
But passion and envy are like rottenness to the bones.

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