Hebrew word · H7578
רְתֵת
retet
trembling
Trembling, shuddering, quaking: the physical shaking of fear or awe. The root r-t-t means "to tremble" in Aramaic and Syriac. Jeremiah 49:24 uses a close relative, reṭeṭ ("panic, trembling"), spelled with a different t-sound.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
trembling
Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
- Range of meaning
Trembling, shuddering, quaking: the physical shaking of fear or awe. The root r-t-t means "to tremble" in Aramaic and Syriac. Jeremiah 49:24 uses a close relative, reṭeṭ ("panic, trembling"), spelled with a different t-sound.
- Against the English
Most modern versions (BSB, ESV, WEB, NIV) treat it as an exclamation: "there was trembling" or "people trembled". The KJV and YLT make it describe how Ephraim spoke ("spake trembling", "speaketh tremblingly"). That makes the line about Ephraim's humility rather than his power.
- How it drifted
The KJV's "spake trembling" can suggest a timid or humble Ephraim who was then rewarded with greatness. That is a possible reading of the Hebrew, but it is the minority one. The flow of the verse, from former greatness to guilt and death, fits better with others trembling at Ephraim's voice.
- Used elsewhere in the period
This is the only use of the word in the Hebrew Bible. The root appears in later Aramaic and in Hebrew texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls for trembling. The Septuagint seems not to have recognised the word and gives "ordinances". The Latin Vulgate gives "horror invasit Israhel" ("dread seized Israel"), which supports the reading that others trembled.
Where it appears
Hosea · 1
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Hosea 13:1 רְתֵ֔ת trembling
When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he was exalted in Israel. But he incurred guilt through Baal, and he died.
Here: A noun found only here in the Hebrew Bible, meaning "trembling, shuddering". It stands alone with no verb, as an exclamation: Ephraim speaks, and there is trembling. Most take it to mean that others trembled at his word. The KJV reads it as Ephraim himself speaking tremblingly.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.