FRET, FRETTING. In all, seven separate Heb. terms are so tr. by the Eng. VSS. 1. חָרָה֒, H3013, the common verb “to be angry,” which appears frequently (Gen 44:18, et al.) often is tr. “fret yourself/himself,” when it occurs in the hithpa’el form, lit. “cause oneself to be angry” (Ps 37:1, 7, 8, et al.)

2. מָאַר, H4421, “painful” appears only in Leviticus 13:51, 52; 14:44 and in Ezekiel 28:24 (KJV) “pricking,” (RSV) “to prick”; the same root metathesized appears in Ruth 1:20, “Do not call me Naomi, call me Mara (bitterness, pain).” The VSS therefore are incorrect and the word should be understood as “cause yourself pain.”

3. רָעַמ֒, H8306, “to thunder,” “to cause trembling,” (KJV) “make her fret” (RSV) “to irritate her” should be understood in its secondary meaning “be humbled” as in Ezekiel 27:35 (KJV) “troubled,” (RSV) “convulsed” should be understood as “humbled.”

4. פְּחֶ֫תֶת, H7076, a peculiar form occurring as a hapax legomenon in Leviticus 13:55, derived from the rare root, פתח, “hollow out” (2 Sam 17:9, et al.) which in turn is a metathesized form of the common Sem. פָּתַח֒, H7337, “bore,” “open” (Mal 3:10), patāhu(m), “open.” The use of this verb in Isaiah 48:8 is identical to its use in Akkad. lit., patāh uzun,” “his ears were open.” The Leviticus passage should thus be tr., “if the lesion has not changed its color and the lesion is not spread, it is unclean; you shall burn it in the fire; it is a fistula, whether the infection is internal or external.” (N.B. the word also can be used in the medical sense of “sinus.”)

5. רָגַז, H8074, “be agitated,” “to tremble” (Deut 2:25, et al. frequently). KJV mistakenly trs. this term as “fret” only in Ezekiel 16:43; RSV “enraged” should be tr., “Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have provoked me...” as in Job 12:6 (KJV).

6. זָעַפ֒, H2406, “be angry,” “be embittered” (Isa 30:30) mistakenly tr. “fret” by KJV only in Proverbs 19:3, properly tr. by KJV in 2 Chronicles 26:19.

7. קָצַף, H7911, “be wrathful,” “wrath,” an Old Canaanite term, occurs as a gloss in Amarna Letter, 93:5; 82:51. Akkad. ašāšu(m), “to be afflicted,” “troubled,” is mistakenly tr. “shall fret themselves” by KJV and JPS in Isaiah 8:21. It should be tr. “they will be enraged” (RSV). Undoubtedly much of the difficulty with these words is due to the wide semantic range given “to fret” in Tudor Eng. so that it became a catchall for the more difficult and oblique Heb. verbs.