시나이 반도에 있는 한 물이 나오는 지역이다. 출애굽 당시 이스라엘 백성들은 이곳에 머물렀는데 이곳에서 난 물이 써서 먹을 수가 없었다.
백성들이 불평하지 모세는 물에 나뭇가지를 던젔고 물이 고쳐저서 먹을 수 있게 되었다.
23 When they came to Marah , they couldn’t drink from the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore its name was called Marah.
24 The people murmured against Moses , saying, “What shall we drink?”
25 Then he cried to Yahweh. Yahweh showed him a tree, and he threw it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There he made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there he tested them.
8 They traveled from before Hahiroth , and crossed through the middle of the sea into the wilderness. They went three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham, and encamped in Marah .
9 They traveled from Marah , and came to Elim . In Elim, there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there.
이후 이 마라는 "쓰다, 고통"의 대명사처럼 사용되었다.
Book of Ruth 에서
Naomi 는 자신의 비통한 처지를 가리켜 마라라고 불렀다.
She said to them, “Don’t call me Naomi . Call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.