Fret, Fretting
(, harah, , ma’ar): To fret is from for (prefix) and etan, to eat, to consume. The word is both transitive and intransitive in King James Version: (1) transitive as translation of harah, to burn, Hithpael, to fret one’s self, to be angry (Psa 37:1, Fret not thyself because of evil-doers; Psa 37:7, Psa 37:8; Pro 24:19); of kacaph, to be angry, etc. (Isa 8:21, They shall fret themselves, and curse, etc.); of raghaz, to be moved (with anger, etc.) (Eze 16:43, Thou hast fretted me in all these things, the American Standard Revised Version raged against me). For Lev 13:55, see under Fretting below. (2) Intransitive, it is the translation of raam, to rage, Hiphil, to provoke to anger (1Sa 1:6, Her rival provoked her sore, to make her fret); of zaaph, to be sad, to fret (Pro 19:3, His heart fretteth against Yahweh).
Fretting in the sense of eating away, consuming, is used of the leprosy, ma’ar, to be sharp, bitter, painful (Lev 13:51, Lev 13:52; Lev 14:44, a fretting leprosy; in Lev 13:55 we have it (is) fret inward (fret past participle), as the translation of pehetheth from pahath, to dig (a pit), the word meaning a depression, a hollow or sunken spot in a garment affected by a kind of leprosy, the Revised Version (British and American) it is a fret.
Revised Version has fretful for angry (Pro 21:19), margin vexation.