אֲשֶׁר H0834a
Relative particle: who, which, that; also used as a substantive relative (what/that which), and occasionally as a causal or temporal conjunction.
Asher is the workhorse of Hebrew syntax, the particle that stitches clauses together and allows the language to point back, forward, and sideways. In its overwhelming majority of uses it functions as the all-purpose relative pronoun — 'who,' 'which,' 'that' — the particle English needs three words for but Hebrew handles with one. Its etymological roots likely trace to a substantive meaning 'place' (cf. Assyrian ashar, Aramaic atar), which explains its development: from 'the place where' to 'the one who' to a general-purpose clausal connector. Spanish que, French qui/lequel, and German dass/das all struggle to cover its range with a single word. At the margins, asher can shade into causal force ('because,' as in Ps 95:11) or temporal force ('when,' as in Ps 139:15), though these uses are vanishingly rare compared to its relentless relative-clause duty.
1. relative pronoun (who/which/that) — The core relative pronoun function, accounting for nearly 98% of all occurrences. Asher introduces a subordinate clause that modifies a definite antecedent: 'the firmament which God made' (Gen 1:7), 'all that he had done' (Gen 2:2), 'the tree of which I commanded you' (Gen 3:11). It serves for persons ('who'), things ('which'), and possessives ('whose') alike. The multilingual evidence neatly tracks this: Spanish el que/que, French lequel/qui, and German das/dass all deploy their standard relative pronouns, while Korean and Japanese use noun-modifying verb forms rather than a separate pronoun — highlighting that asher's relativizing function is a structural feature of Hebrew that other languages encode quite differently. 4839×
AR["التي","الَّتِي","الَّذِي","الَّذِينَ"]·ben["ও-বললেন","যা","যা-","যাকে","যারা","যে"]·DE["das","das-","dass","den","der","die","die-","von-dem"]·EN["which","who"]·FR["lequel","qui"]·heb["אשר"]·HI["जिस-से","जो","जो-"]·ID["yang","yang-"]·IT["che"]·jav["ingkang","ingkang-","punapa-ingkang"]·KO["그","그-것은","그-는","어느","의한"]·PT["a-qual","da-qual","que","que-","quem"]·RU["которая","которого","которое","которую","которые","который","которых","того-как","тот-кто","что-"]·ES["el-que","que"]·SW["ambacho","ambao","ambaye","ambayo","kwake","wakati","yule"]·TR["ki","ki-"]·urd["جس-سے","جو"]
Gen 1:7, Gen 2:2, Gen 3:11, Gen 6:4, Gen 8:1, Gen 9:16, Gen 12:5, Gen 13:18, Gen 15:4, Gen 18:8, Gen 19:19, Gen 20:16 (+38 more)
▼ 3 more senses below
Senses
2. substantive relative (what/that which) — Substantive or headless relative use — 'what,' 'that which,' 'whatever' — where asher has no explicit antecedent and itself fills the noun slot. In Gen 27:8 Rebekah commands Jacob 'do that which I command you'; in Gen 41:25 Joseph tells Pharaoh 'what God is about to do he has shown to Pharaoh.' Spanish lo que ('that which') and German welcher ('whichever') distinguish this from the headed relative in sense 1, confirming it as a genuine separate function. Found 112 times, often in legal and instructional discourse. 112×
AR["أَنَّ-","الَّتِي-","الَّذِي","الَّذِي-","حَيْثُما","عَمّا","عَوَّجَهُ","ما","ما-","ماذا","مَا","مَا-"]·ben["-যা","যা","যা-","যে-","যেন-"]·DE["welcher"]·EN["that","that-","that-is","what","what-","which","you-whose-"]·FR["qui"]·heb["אשר","אשר-"]·HI["जिधर","जिसके","जिसे","जो","जो-","जो-कुछ","ताकि-","नहीं"]·ID["Yang","Yang-","apa","apa-yang","pun","supaya","yang"]·IT["che"]·jav["Ingkang","Panjenengan-ingkang","ingkang","ingkang-","menapa-ingkang","punapa","punapa-ingkang","supados"]·KO["것-이","곳","그-","그-가","그-에게","그것","그것-","그것을","그것을-","누구에게서-","어떤-것을","이는"]·PT["O-que","Que","Tu-cujas-","o-que","onde","para-que","que","que-"]·RU["Что","ни-","то-что","чего","что","что-","чтобы"]·ES["Que-","lo-que","para-que","que"]·SW["Ambalo","alichoona","alivyo-navyo","aliyoamuru","aliyomwamuru","ambacho","ambalo","ambayo","anapogekea","chochote","ili","kile","kile-ambacho","kwamba","nilichofanya","yale","yaliyomo"]·TR["Ki-","ki","ki-","ne","ne-","ne-ki-","olan-","seyleri","yere"]·urd["جب","جسے","جو","جو-کچھ","جہاں","کہ"]
3. causal conjunction (because/therefore) — Causal conjunction force — 'because, on account of which, therefore.' Only a single clear occurrence at Ps 95:11, where God swears in his anger concerning those who tested him: 'therefore I swore in my wrath.' Spanish por lo cual ('on account of which') and English 'therefore' both render the logical-causal connection. This represents an extreme extension of the relative into reason-giving territory, parallel to how English 'which is why' bridges relative and causal function. 1×
AR["الَّذِينَ-"]·ben["যে-বিষয়ে"]·DE["welcher"]·EN["therefore"]·FR["qui"]·heb["אשר"]·HI["जिनके-प्रति-"]·ID["Yang"]·IT["che"]·jav["Ingkang"]·KO["때-에"]·PT["Por-isso"]·RU["о-которых-"]·ES["Por-lo-cual"]·SW["ambao"]·TR["ki"]·urd["سو"]
4. temporal conjunction (when) — Temporal conjunction force — 'when.' The lone clear instance is Ps 139:15, describing the psalmist being formed in secret 'when I was made in the lowest parts of the earth.' Spanish cuando and English 'when' both capture the temporal framing. Like sense 3, this is a marginal but real extension of the relative particle into a domain where Hebrew more commonly uses ki or be + infinitive construct. The spatial etymology (cf. Assyrian ashar 'place') may have facilitated this temporal-locative crossover. 1×
AR["الَّذِي-"]·ben["যা-"]·DE["welcher"]·EN["when"]·FR["qui"]·heb["אשר"]·HI["जो"]·ID["yang-"]·IT["che"]·jav["nalika-"]·KO["그-가"]·PT["quando-"]·RU["которые-"]·ES["cuando-"]·SW["nilipo"]·TR["ki-"]·urd["جب"]
Related Senses
G3588 1. definite article (18298×)H0853 1. definite direct object marker (10915×)G2532 1. (8312×)H3068 1. YHWH (the divine name) (6522×)H3588a 1. causal: because, for (3498×)G1161 1. and (2806×)H3478 1. Israel (proper name and nation) (2507×)G4771 1. you (plural address) (1853×)H1931 1. personal pronoun he/she/it (1431×)G3739 1. relative pronoun who/which/that (1149×)H1732 1. David (proper name) (1075×)H2088 1. this, this one (demonstrative) (1059×)G1063 1. (1047×)G3778 1. this thing, these things (1003×)H???? 2. (1002×)G2424 1. (924×)G3754 1. that (content clause) (881×)H2009 1. presentative particle: behold, look (881×)H0589 1. I (first person singular pronoun) (874×)H0518a 1. conditional particle: if (827×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
אֲשֶׁר part. of relation (Moab. id.; origin dub.: 1. according to TsepreghiDiss. Lugd. p. 171 MühlauBö Lb. ii. 79 n. StaMorg. Forsch. 1875, 188; Lb. § 167 HomZMG 1878, 708 ff. Müll§ 153 SayceHbr. ii. 51 LagM. i. 255 & especially KraetzschmarHbr. vi. 298 ff, orig. a subst. ‘place’ = أَثَرٌ footstep, mark አሠr (do.), אֲתַר, ܐܰܬܰܪ place, Assyrian ašar, used (v. Kraetz.) both as a subst. ‘there,…