מֹרָה

# Morah (Bitterness): A Single Biblical Instance The Hebrew word *morah* (מֹרָה) denotes bitterness and appears only once in the biblical text. As a hapax legomenon—a word occurring just a single time—it provides limited evidence for understanding its full semantic range or usage patterns. The isolated nature of this word means we cannot observe how it was employed across different contexts or how its meaning might have shifted between texts. The single occurrence constrains what can be reliably said about *morah*'s significance within biblical language. Without multiple instances to compare, we cannot determine whether it carried specialized theological weight, served as a standard term for bitterness, or represented an unusual or poetic choice by its author. Its meaning—bitterness—is straightforward, but the reasons the biblical writers chose this particular term rather than alternatives, and what specific associations it carried for ancient audiences, remain inaccessible based solely on the lexical evidence available.