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Mara

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

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Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
• Mara
Holman Bible Dictionary
• Mara
Hitchcock Bible Names
• Mara
Hastings' BibleDictionary
• Mara
Morrish Bible Dictionary
• Mara
Smith Bible Dictionary
• Mara
Webster Dictionary
• Mara
Encyclopedias
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
• Gertrud Elisabeth Mara
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
• Mara
McClintock and Strong's Bible Encyclopedia
• Mara
• Mara (2)
• Marae
The Catholic Encyclopedia
• Francisco Lopez de Gómara
• Tomás Cámara y Castro
Lexicons
• מָרָא

mā´ra , mâr´a ( מרה , mārāh , "bitter"): The term which Naomi applies to herself on her return from Moab to her native country (Rth 1:20). Changed beyond recognition, she creates astonishment among her former acquaintances, who ask, "Is this Naomi?" She replies, "Call me not Naomi" (i.e. "pleasant" or "sweet"), but "call me Mara" (i.e. "bitter"). In the light of her bitter experience, and her present pitiable plight, the old name has become peculiarly inappropriate.