MARA

(Maʹra) [bitter].

The name Mara was suggested by Elimelech’s widow for herself to express the bitterness she experienced due to being bereaved of her husband and her sons Mahlon and Chilion. Naomi had left Bethlehem with a husband and two sons (Ruth 1:1, 2), but returned from Moab as a saddened, childless widow. At that time her old friends, the women of Bethlehem, asked: “Is this Naomi?” Still grief-stricken, she replied: “Do not call me Naomi [meaning “my pleasantness”]. Call me Mara [meaning “bitter”], for the Almighty has made it very bitter for me. I was full when I went, and it is empty-handed that Jehovah has made me return.”—Ruth 1:19-21.