The adjective aristeros ('left, on the left side') designates spatial orientation opposite to the right (dexios). In classical Greek it carried negative connotations -- omens from the left were ill-favored, and 'leftward' metaphorically meant erring or sinister. The New Testament's four occurrences retain the spatial sense without the ominous overtones: Jesus instructs that the left hand should not know what the right hand is doing in almsgiving (Matt 6:3); James and John request seats at his left and right in glory (Mark 10:37); the two criminals hang on his left and right at Golgotha (Luke 23:33); and Paul commends himself through weapons of righteousness on right and left (2 Cor 6:7). Spanish izquierda and French gauche both carry the same straightforward directional meaning.