He has filled me with bitterness; He has intoxicated me with wormwood.
Parallel translations
- WEB He has filled me with bitterness. He has sated me with wormwood.
- KJV He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood.
- NKJV He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drink wormwood.
- NASB He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drink plenty of wormwood.
- NLT He has filled me with bitterness and given me a bitter cup of sorrow to drink.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God has filled him with bitterness and made him drink wormwood. It pictures suffering as a bitter cup he must swallow.
Overview
Filled with bitterness and sated with 'wormwood' (a bitter plant), the sufferer must consume his sorrow to the full. The cup of bitterness is a recurring image of suffering and judgment in Scripture. Christ drank the truly bitter cup of God's wrath so that his people might be spared and instead receive the cup of blessing (Matthew 26:39; 1 Corinthians 10:16).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Jer 9:15Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will feed this people wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.
- Jer 25:15–18This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from My hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it.
- Ruth 1:20“Do not call me Naomi,” she replied. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has dealt quite bitterly with me.
- Job 9:18He does not let me catch my breath, but overwhelms me with bitterness.
- Isa 51:17–22Awake, awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of His fury; you who have drained the goblet to the dregs—the cup that makes men stagger.
- Jer 25:27“Then you are to tell them that this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Drink, get drunk, and vomit. Fall down and never get up again, because of the sword I will send among you.’
- Jer 23:15Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts says concerning the prophets: “I will feed them wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land.”
- Ps 60:3You have shown Your people hardship; we are staggered from the wine You made us drink.
- Lam 3:19Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The weeping over a ruined city and the steadfast mercies that are new every morning point to the man of sorrows who wept over Jerusalem and whose mercy rises new from the grave.
How Lamentations 3:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.