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yashar

יָשַׁר

HebrewH3474please, make straight, ...

Appears 25 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Num 23:27Jdg 14:3Jdg 14:71Sa 6:121Sa 18:201Sa 18:262Sa 17:41Ki 6:351Ki 9:121Ch 13:42Ch 30:42Ch 32:30Psa 5:8(9)Psa 119:128Pro 3:6Pro 4:25Pro 9:15Pro 11:5Pro 15:21Isa 40:3Isa 45:2Isa 45:13Jer 18:4Jer 27:5Hab 2:4
Word studyyah-SHAHRverb

What yashar means

to be or go straight and level, and so to be right or pleasing; also to make a path straight, smooth, or direct

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

The picture underneath this word is a straight, level line. Something can move along that line (go straight ahead), or a person can create it (make a road smooth and direct), or a thing can simply measure up to it (be straight, and therefore right).

From that single image the word fans out in two directions. In the plain, physical sense it describes cattle keeping to the road, a builder leveling ground, or a prophet calling for a highway to be cleared. In the figurative sense the same straightness becomes a picture of approval: when something is straight in a person's eyes it strikes them as right, fitting, and acceptable, and so it pleases them.

Because English has to choose a different word for each of these shades (go straight, make level, direct, please, be upright), no single translation carries the whole range. The connecting thread is always the same: what is straight is what is right.

Nuances

1ato go straight ahead; to keep a direct course
1Sa 6:12
1bto make a way straight, level, or smooth; to clear or direct a path
1Ki 6:352Ch 32:30Psa 5:8(9)Pro 3:6Pro 4:25Pro 9:15Pro 11:5Pro 15:21Isa 40:3Isa 45:2Isa 45:13
1cto be right, pleasing, or acceptable in someone's eyes
TranslatabilityApproximate
Num 23:27Jdg 14:3Jdg 14:71Sa 18:201Sa 18:262Sa 17:41Ki 9:121Ch 13:42Ch 30:4Jer 18:4Jer 27:5
1dto be straight within, that is, to be morally upright
Hab 2:4
1eto hold or treat something as right; to approve it
Psa 119:128

What scholars say about yashar

The lexica treat ישׁר as a single root centered on the notion of being straight or level, with a well-established extension to what is right, fitting, or pleasing. In the qal it is stative or intransitive (to go straight, to be pleasing in the eyes of), most often in the idiom ישׁר בעיני, seemed right in the eyes of. The piel and hiphil are causative or declarative: to make a road straight or level (Isa 40:3; 45:2, 13), to direct a course (2 Chr 32:30), and, in the estimative sense, to hold something to be right (Ps 119:128). The pual participle in 1 Kgs 6:35 describes gold laid on smoothly and evenly. Habakkuk 2:4 uses the qal of inner moral straightness. The root is well represented across the family, including the adjective ישׁר, the nouns ישׁר and מישׁור, and the plural מישׁרים, uprightness or equity.

Sources

  • HALOT, s.v. ישׁרlexicon
  • BDB, s.v. ישׁרlexicon
  • TWOT, article 930 ( yashar)theological-dictionary
  • DCH, s.v. ישׁר Ilexicon

All attested forms of יָשַׁר

qal consecutive-imperfect 3ms

וַיִּישַׁר, וַיִּשַׁר

2Sa 17:4, 2Ch 30:4, 1Sa 18:20, 1Sa 18:26

qal perfect 3ms

יָשַׁר

1Ch 13:4, Jer 18:4, Jer 27:5

piel imperfect 1cs

אֲיַשֵּׁר

Isa 45:2, Isa 45:13

piel imperfect 3ms

יְיַשֵּׁר, יְיַשֶׁר

Pro 3:6, Pro 15:21

qal perfect 3fs

יָשְׁרָה

Jdg 14:3, Hab 2:4

hiphil imperative 2ms

הַיְשַׁר

Psa 5:8

hiphil imperfect 3mp

יַיְשִׁרוּ

Pro 4:25

piel consecutive-imperfect 3ms

וַיַּישְּׁרֵ

2Ch 32:30

piel imperative 2mp

יַשְּׁרוּ

Isa 40:3

piel imperfect 3fs

תְּיַשֵּׁר

Pro 11:5

piel participle m p absolute

מְיַשְּׁרִים

Pro 9:15

piel perfect 1cs

יִשָּׁרְתִּי

Psa 119:128

pual passive-participle m s absolute

מְיֻשָּׁר

1Ki 6:35

qal consecutive-imperfect 3fp

וַיִשַּׁרְנָה

1Sa 6:12

qal consecutive-imperfect 3fs

וַתִּישַׁר

Jdg 14:7

qal imperfect 3ms

יִישַׁר

Num 23:27

qal perfect 3cp

יָשְׁרוּ

1Ki 9:12