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ANGER.—In OT ‘anger’ represents about a dozen Heb. roots, which occur as nouns, vbs. (once ‘angered’ is used transitively, Psa_106:32), and adjs. By far the most frequent words are anaph (lit. ‘to snort’) and its deriv. noun aph, which is used of the anger both of men (Gen_27:45; Gen_30:2, Exo_11:8; Exo_32:19; etc.) and God (Exo_4:14; Exo_32:22, Psa_6:1; Psa_7:6 etc.). In NT ‘anger’ is of much less frequent occurrence, and represents only 2 roots: (1) the noun orgç (wh., however, is usually tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘wrath’), the vb. orgizomai, the adj. orgĭ (only in Tit_1:7), and the trans. vb. parorgizô (Rom_10:19, the only case of a trans, use of ‘anger’ in NT); (2) the vb. cholaô (lit. ‘to be full of bile,’ fr. cholç, ‘bile’), used only in Joh_7:23 to express the bitter anger of ‘the Jews’ against Jesus. With regard to the distinction between orgç and the synon. thumos, it is to be noted that while orgç is very often tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘wrath,’ thumos is never tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘anger,’ and when the two words occur together, thumos in each case is ‘wrath’ (Rom_2:8, Eph_4:31, Col_3:8) and orgç ‘anger’ (Eph_4:31, Col_3:8) or ‘indignation’ (Rom_2:8). Thumos is the more violent word, denoting anger as a strong passion or emotion, while orgç points rather to a settled moral indignation. Thus orgç is used of the sorrowful anger of Jesus (Mar_3:5); thumos of the rage of His enemies (Luk_4:28; cf. Act_19:28). And, outside of the Apocalypse, thumos is applied almost exclusively to the wrath of men (the only exception being Rom_2:8), while orgç in the great majority of cases (Mat_3:7, Joh_3:36, Rom_1:18 etc.) denotes the righteous indignation of God.
J. C. Lambert.