Exodus 15:23
in Exodus 15And when they came to Marah, they could not drink the water there because it was bitter. (That is why it was named Marah.)
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.
KJV
And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.
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This verse in Exodus 15
Commentary
10 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Marah - Now identified with the fount of Huwara. The fountain rises from a large mound, a whitish petrifaction, deposited by the water, and is considered by the Arabians to be the worst in the whole district.
This site's exposition
So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea
on Exodus 15:22-23
Three days out of the water and there is no water, which is the whole distance between the song and the complaint that follows it. Marah means bitter, so the first stop after the sea is a disappointment that gets named for what was wrong with it. The wilderness of Shur is the same country Genesis 16:7 put Hagar in when she ran from Sarai, where the angel of the LORD found an Egyptian slave woman by a fountain on the way to Shur.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And when they came to Marah,....
Note, God can embitter that to us from which we promise ourselves most satisfaction, and often does so in the wilderness of this world, that our wants and disappointments in the creature may drive us to the Creator, in whose favour alone true comfort is to be had.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
There is no other perennial spring in the intermediate space. The water still retains its ancient character, and has a bad name among the Arabs, who seldom allow their camels to partake of it.
WHAT A SUDDEN CHANGE from the sound of the timbrel to the voice of murmuring! You saw the maidens dancing three days ago, and you little dreamed that they would make part of yonder clamorous throng who surround the servant of God, and cry, “What shall we drink?” Such are the changes of our outward conditions and of our inward feelings, so fickle and so mutable is man. What is there that can be rested upon in this mortal life? We say to-day, “My mountain standeth firm, I shall never be moved;” to-morrow, terra firma there is none, and we are tossed upon a stormy sea. Our life is like an April day, the sunshine alternates with the shower; or like each day of all the year, the morning and the evening are needful to complete it. Quick on the heels of light treads the darkness, followed with equal haste by light again. The sun’s rule, at this golden hour, is but temporary; he must abdicate in favor of the usurping stars, but they, in their turn, must give way before his lordly presence yet again. This world, which is our inn, owns to the sign of the “chequers”—the blacks and whites are everywhere. We can be sure of nothing between here and heaven of the things which are seen; but of this we may be certain, that underneath all the outward change there is the immutable love of God towards his people, and that, after all, the change lies only in the seeming things, not in the things which truly are; for the things which are not seen are eternal and changes come not there; it is but in the things which are seen that the change occurs. Let us set the less store by earth, because its fashion abides not. Let us prize heaven more, because it cannot fade. I. The text directs your attention, first of all, to THE EVILS OF THE WILDERNESS.
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2301: “Marah Better Than Elim” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
AFTER I had fallen down at Mentone, and was grievously ill, a Brother in Christ called to me and said, "My dear Friend, you have now come to Marah." I replied, "Yes, and the waters are bitter." He then said, "But Marah is better than Elim, for in Elim the Israelites only drank of the water and ate of the fruit of the palm trees, and that was soon over. But at Marah we read that God, 'made for them a statute and an ordinance,' and that was never over.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2301: “Marah Better Than Elim” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
AFTER I had fallen down at Mentone, and was grievously ill, a Brother in Christ called to me and said, "My dear Friend, you have now come to Marah." I replied, "Yes, and the waters are bitter." He then said, "But Marah is better than Elim, for in Elim the Israelites only drank of the water and ate of the fruit of the palm trees, and that was soon over. But at Marah we read that God, 'made for them a statute and an ordinance,' and that was never over. That statute and ordinance stood fast and will stand fast for Israel as long as they are a nation. There is much more benefit to be reaped from Marah than from Elim." I thanked my friend for that good word. I had found it true before. I have found it true since then and you and I, if we are, indeed, the people of God, will find it true to the end, that Marah, though it is bitter, is also better. And albeit that we do not like it, yet in the end there shall be no bitterness in it, but an unutterable sweetness which shall be ours through time and eternity! We have a long record about Marah, have we not? I have read you four verses concerning Marah. How many verses have we about Elim? Only one. Does Marah deserve to be talked about four times as much as Elim? Perhaps it does. Perhaps there is four times as much fruit to be obtained from the bitter waters of Marah than from the 12 springs of water, and 70 palm trees at Elim. Who knows? This I know, however, that we are very apt to talk more about our bitters than about our sweets—and that is a serious fault. It were well if we had fewer murmuring words for our sorrows and more songs of thanksgiving for our blessings.
WHAT A SUDDEN CHANGE from the sound of the timbrel to the voice of murmuring! You saw the maidens dancing three days ago, and you little dreamed that they would make part of yonder clamorous throng who surround the servant of God, and cry, “What shall we drink?” Such are the changes of our outward conditions and of our inward feelings, so fickle and so mutable is man. What is there that can be rested upon in this mortal life?
Marah - So called from the bitter waters found there. Dr. Shaw conjectures that this place is the same as that now called Corondel, where there is still a small rill which, if not diluted with dews or rain, continues brackish. See his account at the end of Exodus (Exo 40:38 (note)).
The words behind it
15 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיָּבֹ֣אוּ | vaiyavou | and they came | H935 → | 2568 times |
| מָרָ֔תָה | maratah | Marah towards | H4785 → | 5 times |
| וְלֹ֣א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יָֽכְל֗וּ | yakhelu | they were able | H3201 → | 194 times |
| לִשְׁתֹּ֥ת | lishtot | to drink | H8354 → | 217 times |
| מַ֙יִם֙ | mayim | waters | H4325 → | 581 times |
| מִמָּרָ֔ה | mimarah | from Marah | H4785 → | 5 times |
| כִּ֥י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| מָרִ֖ים | marim | [were] bitter | H4751 → | |
| הֵ֑ם | hem | they | H1992 → | 553 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | there- | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| כֵּ֥ן | ken | -fore | H3651 → | 771 times |
| קָרָֽא־ | kara'- | someone called | H7121 → | 733 times |
| שְׁמָ֖הּ | shemah | name its | H8034 → | 864 times |
| מָרָֽה׃ | marah | Marah | H4785 → | 5 times |
וַיָּבֹ֣אוּand they came
vaiyavouH935 →2568 times
מָרָ֔תָהMarah towards
maratahH4785 →5 times
וְלֹ֣אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
יָֽכְל֗וּthey were able
yakheluH3201 →194 times
לִשְׁתֹּ֥תto drink
lishtotH8354 →217 times
מַ֙יִם֙waters
mayimH4325 →581 times
מִמָּרָ֔הfrom Marah
mimarahH4785 →5 times
כִּ֥יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
מָרִ֖ים[were] bitter
marimH4751 →
הֵ֑םthey
hemH1992 →553 times
עַל־there-
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
כֵּ֥ן-fore
kenH3651 →771 times
קָרָֽא־someone called
kara'-H7121 →733 times
שְׁמָ֖הּname its
shemahH8034 →864 times
מָרָֽה׃Marah
marahH4785 →5 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
7 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ruth 1:20“Do not call me Naomi,” she replied. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has dealt quite bitterly with me.
it leads to
- Job 6:4
For the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
- Hebrews 12:11
No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who have been trained by it.
- Psalms 88:15
From my youth I was afflicted and near death. I have borne Your terrors; I am in despair.
- Psalms 73:14
For I am afflicted all day long and punished every morning.
- Job 19:6
then understand that it is God who has wronged me and drawn His net around me.
- Job 6:4
Through
Numbers 33:8They set out from Pi-hahiroth and crossed through the sea, into the wilderness, and they journeyed three days into the Wilderness of Etham and camped at Marah.
it leads to
- Exodus 14:21–31
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove back the sea with a strong east wind that turned it into dry land. So the waters were…
- Exodus 15:22–26
Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the Desert of Shur. For three days they walked in the desert without finding water.
- Exodus 14:21–31
Where this verse is studied
About Exodus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 987: “Marah; or, The Bitter Waters Sweetened” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2301: “Marah Better Than Elim” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.