StrongerBible

yashar

יָשָׁר

HebrewH3477“upright, right, ...”

Appears 119 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Exo 15:26Num 23:10Deu 6:18Deu 12:8Deu 12:25Deu 12:28Deu 13:18(19)Deu 21:9Deu 32:4Jos 9:25Jos 10:13Jdg 17:6Jdg 21:251Sa 12:231Sa 29:62Sa 1:182Sa 19:6(7)2Ki 10:152Ch 29:34Ezr 8:21Neh 9:13Job 1:1Job 1:8Job 2:3Job 4:7Job 8:6Job 17:8Job 23:7Job 33:27Psa 7:10(11)Psa 11:2Psa 11:7Psa 19:8(9)Psa 25:8Psa 32:11Psa 33:1Psa 36:10(11)Psa 37:14Psa 49:14(15)Psa 64:10(11)Psa 94:15Psa 97:11Psa 107:7Psa 107:42Psa 111:1Psa 112:2Psa 112:4Psa 125:4Psa 140:13(14)Pro 8:9
Names & words formed with this
Word studyyah-SHARadjective

What yashar means

straight, and so morally right: in line with the true standard, whether a road, a person, or God himself

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

The picture underneath this word is a line with no bend in it. A road can be yashar when it runs straight to where you are going, and a pair of legs or wings can be yashar when they stand straight rather than crooked. From that plain physical picture the Hebrew Bible draws its moral meaning: a person is yashar when their life runs straight, true to what is right, with no crookedness or double-dealing.

The same word names both the standard and the people who meet it. Often it appears in the phrase "what is right in the eyes of" someone. When the eyes are the LORD's, yashar names the real, fixed standard of right that he sets. When the eyes are a person's own, the same phrase can turn dangerous, describing whatever each person decides is right for himself, which the book of Judges treats as the root of chaos.

Its most common use is to describe character. "The upright" are a recognizable group in the Psalms and Proverbs, set against the wicked and standing alongside the righteous and the blameless. Strikingly, God himself is called yashar: he is upright, and so his ways and his rulings are straight, the very line by which everything else is measured.

Nuances

1astraight, level, direct (of a road, limbs, or wings); a way that runs without detour
Ezr 8:21Psa 107:7Isa 26:7Jer 31:9Ezk 1:7Ezk 1:23
1bright in the LORD's eyes: in line with the standard of right that God sets
Deu 6:18Deu 12:25Deu 12:28Deu 13:18(19)Deu 21:91Ki 11:331Ki 14:81Ki 15:51Ki 15:111Ki 22:432Ki 12:22Ki 14:3
1cright or pleasing in a person's own eyes: what someone judges to be acceptable, which may or may not be truly right
Deu 12:8Jos 9:25Jdg 17:6Jdg 21:251Sa 29:62Sa 19:6(7)Pro 12:15Pro 14:12Pro 16:25Pro 21:2Jer 40:4Jer 40:5
1dmorally upright, just; "the upright" as a group, and the uprightness of God himself
Deu 32:4Job 1:1Job 1:8Job 2:3Psa 7:10(11)Psa 11:2Psa 25:8Psa 32:11Psa 33:1Psa 33:4Psa 92:15Psa 119:137

What scholars say about yashar

The standard lexica treat yashar as one adjective whose root sense is "straight, level" (used literally of roads and limbs) extended to the moral "right, upright." BDB and HALOT both organize it from the physical to the ethical, noting the frequent idiom "right in the eyes of" (God's standard, or a person's own judgment) and the substantival "the upright" common in wisdom and the Psalms, where yashar pairs with tsaddiq (righteous) and tam/tamim (blameless) and stands opposite the wicked. The word is also applied to God himself (Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalm 92:15), grounding human uprightness in God's own straightness. The proper-name "Book of Jashar" (Joshua 10:13; 2 Samuel 1:18) is the same adjective used as a title and is not a separate word.

Sources

  • Brown, Driver, Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, s.v. יָשָׁרlexicon
  • Koehler-Baumgartner, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (HALOT), s.v. יָשָׁרlexicon
  • G. Liedke, "ישר yšr to be straight," in Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament (TLOT), ed. E. Jenni and C. Westermanndictionary
  • Clines, ed., The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew (DCH), s.v. יָשָׁרlexicon

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

All attested forms of יָשָׁר

m s absolute

יָּשָׁר, יָשָׁר

Exo 15:26, Deu 6:18, Deu 12:8, Deu 12:25, Deu 12:28, Deu 13:18, Deu 21:9, Jos 9:25

m p absolute

יְשָׁרִים, וִישָׁרִים, וְלִישָׁרִים

Num 23:10, Neh 9:13, Job 4:7, Job 17:8, Psa 19:8, Psa 33:1, Psa 49:14, Psa 107:42

m p construct

יִשְׁרֵי

2Ch 29:34, Psa 7:10, Psa 11:2, Psa 32:11, Psa 36:10, Psa 37:14, Psa 64:10, Psa 94:15

f s absolute

יְשָׁרָה

1Sa 12:23, Ezr 8:21, Psa 107:7, Ezk 1:7, Mic 3:9

f p absolute

יְשָׁרוֹת

Ezk 1:23

m s construct

יְשַׁר

Pro 29:27