StrongerBible

ashur

אֲשׁוּר

HebrewH0838“steps, goings”

Appears 9 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Job 23:11Job 31:7Psa 17:5Psa 17:11Psa 37:31Psa 40:2(3)Psa 44:18(19)Psa 73:2Pro 14:15
Word studyah-SHOORnoun

What ashur means

a step: the walking a person does, standing for the course a life is taking

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

This word never turns up in a story about someone crossing a room. All nine of its appearances are in poetry, in Psalms, Job, and Proverbs, and in every one of them a person's stepping stands for the shape of a life: where it is headed, and whether it is staying on course.

The poets pair it with a small set of verbs, and the pattern is easy to see:

  • steps get held up or set firm so they will not give way (Psalm 17:5, Psalm 40:2)
  • steps slip, wobble, or nearly slide out from under a person (Psalm 37:31, Psalm 73:2)
  • steps turn aside from the road a person was supposed to walk (Psalm 44:18, Job 31:7)

Because of that, the word usually sits next to a word for the road itself, whether a worn track (מַעְגָּל) or a way (דֶּרֶךְ). The road is the standard; the steps are what a person actually does with it. That is also why the prudent person of Proverbs 14:15 is said to watch his step: he is thinking about where his life is going, not about tripping.

Job 23:11 turns the picture around. There the steps belong to God, and Job says his own foot has gripped that track and not let go. The Greek word for a footprint left behind (ἴχνος) does the same work in the New Testament.

Nuances

1aa person's own steps: how a life is going, whether it holds to a path or slides off it
Job 31:7Psa 17:5Psa 17:11Psa 37:31Psa 40:2(3)Psa 44:18(19)Psa 73:2Pro 14:15
1bsomeone else's steps, seen as a track to walk in
Job 23:11

What scholars say about ashur

The noun is generally derived from the root אשר I, "to go straight, advance", which the standard lexica distinguish from the homonymous אשר II, "to call blessed" (BDB, HALOT); STEPBible's lexicon merges the two verbal entries, which is why the related verb H0833 is glossed there simply as "to bless". Strong's assigns two sub-numbers, H0838A אֲשׁוּר and H0838B אַשֻּׁר, but these are alternative vocalizations of a single lexeme and the lexica treat them as one entry, so the merged base number here corresponds to one word. Distribution is exclusively poetic (Psalms, Job, Proverbs), and the noun always carries a pronominal suffix; it is never attested of literal locomotion apart from the figure of the path. Psalm 17:11 is text-critically difficult: the suffixed form stands without an obvious governing element, and commentators have proposed reading the consonants as a verbal form instead, a question that affects the occurrence count but not the sense of the lexeme. At Job 23:11 the suffix on אשרו is most naturally referred to God, in parallel with דרכו in the same verse (Clines).

Sources

  • BDB, s.v. אָשֻׁרlexicon
  • HALOT, s.v. אַשֻּׁרlexicon
  • DCH, s.v. אָשֻׁרlexicon
  • David J. A. Clines, Job 21-37, Word Biblical Commentary, on Job 23:11commentary

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of אֲשׁוּר

m p construct

אֲשֻׁרָי, אֲשֻׁרַי

Psa 40:2, Psa 73:2, Psa 17:5

f s construct

אֲשֻׁרוֹ

Job 23:11, Pro 14:15

m p construct

אֲשֻׁרֵינוּ, אַשֻּׁרֵינוּ

Psa 44:18, Psa 17:11

f s construct

אַשֻּׁרִי

Job 31:7

m p construct

אֲשֻׁרָיו

Psa 37:31