15 Bible Verses About Bitterness

Ruth 1:20

“‘Don’t call me Naomi,’ she told them. ‘Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.’”

Reflection: When Naomi comes back to Bethlehem, the women of the town ask, “Can this be Naomi?” She tells them to call her Mara instead, a name meaning bitter (Strong’s Hebrew 4755). The next verse gives her reason: “I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty.” She names the Almighty as the one who has afflicted her and says so in front of the whole town.

Job 7:11

“Therefore I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.”

Reflection: Job has just asked God to remember that his life “is but a breath” (Job 7:7), and that one who goes down to the grave does not return. The “therefore” ties his complaint to that: he will not keep silent. He repeats nearly the same words in Job 10:1 and then says to God, “tell me what charges you have against me” (Job 10:2).

Lamentations 3:15

“He has filled me with bitter herbs and given me gall to drink.”

Reflection: In Lamentations 3 the speaker describes his suffering as God’s doing: arrows in his heart, teeth broken with gravel, bitter herbs and gall. A few verses later he recalls “the bitterness and the gall” again, and then turns: “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed” (Lamentations 3:21-22).

Psalm 73:21-22

“When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you.”

Reflection: The bitterness began in envy: “I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked” (Psalm 73:3). Verse 15 shows he kept it to himself: “If I had spoken out like that, I would have betrayed your children.” It troubled him until he “entered the sanctuary of God” (Psalm 73:17), and looking back he tells God he was senseless and “a brute beast before you”. The next verse opens with “Yet”: “Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.”

Proverbs 14:10

“Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy.”

Reflection: The proverb pairs bitterness with joy: a heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy. It is stated as an observation about people and carries no command.

Hebrews 12:15

“See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no ‘bitter root’ grows up to cause trouble and defile many.”

Reflection: The “bitter root” comes from Deuteronomy 29:18, where Moses warns Israel that no one among them should turn from the Lord to other gods: “make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.” Hebrews applies the warning to a church and names the harm, a root that grows up “to cause trouble and defile many”. The following verse sets Esau beside it, who “for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son”.

Acts 8:23

“For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”

Reflection: Peter says this to Simon, who had offered the apostles money for the power to give the Holy Spirit by laying on hands (Acts 8:18-19). Peter tells him to repent and pray that the Lord may forgive “such a thought in your heart”. The Greek word for bitterness in Luke’s account is pikria, and Thayer’s lexicon reads the phrase here as “bitter gall, equivalent to extreme wickedness” (Strong’s Greek 4088).

James 3:14

“But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.”

Reflection: The Greek adjective translated “bitter” here, pikros, is the word James uses in verse 11 for the water that cannot flow from the same spring as fresh water, where the NIV has “salt water” (Strong’s Greek 4089). Bitter envy and selfish ambition, he says, belong to a “wisdom” that is “earthly, unspiritual, demonic”, and verse 16 adds that where they are, “you find disorder and every evil practice.” He tells anyone who harbors them not to boast or deny the truth.

Romans 3:14

“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”

Reflection: Paul introduces a string of Old Testament quotations with “As it is written”, beginning “There is no one righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10). This line belongs to a run about speech: throats like open graves, tongues that practice deceit, “the poison of vipers” on the lips. Here bitterness is something that comes out of the mouth, alongside cursing.

Ephesians 4:31

“Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.”

Reflection: Bitterness heads a list of things to get rid of, with rage, anger, brawling, slander and malice. The verses just before it are about speech and the Spirit: no unwholesome talk, and “do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:29-30). The instruction runs straight on into verse 32, which says what takes the place of bitterness.

Ephesians 4:32

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

Reflection: Kindness, compassion and forgiveness follow directly on the command to get rid of all bitterness in the verse before. The measure of the forgiveness is God’s: “just as in Christ God forgave you.”

Colossians 3:13

“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

Reflection: Colossians gives the same instruction as Ephesians 4:32 and names the situation outright: “if any of you has a grievance against someone.” It follows a list of qualities to put on, “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience”, addressed to readers called “God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved” (Colossians 3:12).

Leviticus 19:18

“Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.”

Reflection: “Love your neighbor as yourself” is given here in the same sentence as a ban on seeking revenge or bearing a grudge. The verse before forbids hatred kept in the heart and gives a command about speaking: “Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt” (Leviticus 19:17).

Mark 11:25

“And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

Reflection: Jesus attaches this to his teaching on prayer, just after saying that whatever is asked for in prayer with belief will be received (Mark 11:24). “If you hold anything against anyone” leaves no grievance out, and forgiving it is tied to the Father’s forgiveness of the one praying. Matthew 6:14-15 records the same link after the Lord’s Prayer and states it in both directions.

Proverbs 19:11

“A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.”

Reflection: The proverb treats patience as the fruit of wisdom and calls overlooking an offense a person’s glory. Proverbs 10:12 says something close from the side of love: “Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs.”