StrongerBible

yemani

יְמָנִי

HebrewH3233right, right hand, ...

Appears 32 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Exo 29:20 (3×)Lev 8:23 (3×)Lev 8:24 (3×)Lev 14:14 (3×)Lev 14:16Lev 14:17 (3×)Lev 14:25 (3×)Lev 14:27Lev 14:281Ki 6:81Ki 7:212Ki 11:112Ch 3:172Ch 4:10Ezk 4:6
Word studyyeh-mah-NEEadjective

What yemani means

on the right; belonging to or located on the right-hand side

TranslatabilityDirectCertaintySettled

This is the everyday word for marking something as being on the right rather than the left. It describes a body part (the right ear, the right thumb, the right big toe) or a part of a place or object (the right pillar, the right side of a building, the right corner of the temple). In every case it simply points to the right-hand side.

Most of its uses cluster in two settings. In the instructions for setting apart priests and for cleansing a person who had recovered from a skin disease, blood or oil is placed on the right ear, the right thumb, and the right big toe, and this word marks each of those as the right one. In descriptions of Solomon's temple it marks the right pillar (named Jachin) and the right side of the house, often set against its counterpart on the left.

Because an Israelite pictured direction while facing east, the right hand pointed south, and the related noun this word comes from can by itself mean the south. That extended sense does not carry over to this adjective in the Hebrew Bible: wherever south is actually meant, the text adds a separate word for south alongside it, so this word keeps its plain meaning, on the right.

Exo 29:20 (3×)Lev 8:23 (3×)Lev 8:24 (3×)Lev 14:14 (3×)Lev 14:16Lev 14:17 (3×)Lev 14:25 (3×)Lev 14:27Lev 14:281Ki 6:81Ki 7:212Ki 11:11

What scholars say about yemani

The adjective is a gentilic-pattern formation from the noun יָמִין ("right hand, right side"). Standard lexica (BDB s.v. יְמָנִי; HALOT; DCH) gloss it uniformly as "right, on the right hand or side," with no semantic controversy. Its distribution is almost entirely Priestly ritual (the right ear, thumb, and big toe in Exodus 29 and Leviticus 8 and 14) and temple architecture (the right pillar Jachin in 1 Kings 7 and 2 Chronicles 3; the right side of the house or altar in 1 Kings 6, 2 Kings 11, 2 Chronicles 4 and 23, and Ezekiel 47). The "south" value carried by the base noun (a speaker facing east has the south on the right) does not surface as an independent sense of the adjective in the Hebrew Bible; where south is intended the text supplies נֶגֶב separately (Ezekiel 47:1; 2 Chronicles 4:10).

Sources

  • BDB, s.v. יְמָנִיlexicon
  • HALOT, s.v. יְמָנִיlexicon
  • DCH, s.v. יְמָנִיlexicon

All attested forms of יְמָנִי

f s absolute

יְמָנִית

Exo 29:20, Lev 8:23, Lev 8:24, Lev 14:14, Lev 14:16, Lev 14:17, Lev 14:25, Lev 14:27

f s construct

יְמָנִית

Exo 29:20, Exo 29:20, Lev 8:23, Lev 8:23, Lev 8:24, Lev 8:24, Lev 14:14, Lev 14:14

m s absolute

יְמָנִי

1Ki 7:21, 2Ch 3:17, Ezk 4:6