H3477 H3477
Straight, upright, righteous; of persons: morally upright; of actions: right, correct, pleasing to God; physically: straight, level; also a proper name (Book of Yashar).
Yashar is one of Hebrew's most versatile moral-physical adjectives, rooted in the concrete image of straightness. A road can be yashar — level, direct, without crookedness (Ps 107:7; Jer 31:9) — and from this spatial metaphor the word extends powerfully into the ethical realm. Its most frequent use describes persons of moral integrity: Job is tam veyashar, 'blameless and upright' (Job 1:1), and the yesharim form a recognized social-moral category throughout Psalms and Proverbs, standing opposite the crooked and the wicked. A distinct evaluative sense appears in the Deuteronomistic formula 'what is right in the eyes of the LORD' (hayyashar be'eyne YHWH), the standard by which every king of Israel and Judah is measured. German aufrichtig ('upright') and Spanish recto both preserve the physical-to-moral metaphor beautifully — 'straight' becoming 'righteous.' French droit carries the same dual register. The word also appears as a proper name in the mysterious Book of Yashar (Josh 10:13; 2 Sam 1:18), a lost Israelite literary collection whose very title hints at an anthology of heroic virtue.
1. upright, righteous (of persons) — Describes a person who is morally upright, righteous, or of good character — the dominant sense at 70 occurrences, forming a key term in biblical wisdom vocabulary. In Job 1:1, 1:8, and 2:3, yashar pairs with tam ('blameless') as a double predicate of exemplary righteousness; in Num 23:10 Balaam wishes to 'die the death of the upright' (yesharim). Proverbs uses the substantive yesharim as a quasi-social category: 'the upright will inhabit the land' (Prov 2:21), 'the prayer of the upright is his delight' (15:8). German aufrichtig and Spanish recto both derive from spatial-straightness metaphors applied to character, mirroring the Hebrew semantic transfer precisely. French droit similarly moves from 'straight' to 'just.' The multilingual evidence confirms that the physical-to-moral extension is deeply cross-linguistic, but Hebrew yashar carries a particular covenantal weight: to be yashar is to walk the path God has made straight. 70×
AR["أَقْوَمُهُمْ", "المُسْتَقيمونَ", "المُسْتَقِيمُ", "الْمُسْتَقِيمُونَ", "الْمُسْتَقِيمِينَ", "مُستَقيمٌ", "مُسْتَقيمٌ", "مُسْتَقِيمًا", "مُسْتَقِيمٌ"]·ben["সরল", "সরলরা", "সোজা", "সৎ", "সৎ-লোকেরা", "সৎদের", "সৎরা"]·DE["[ישר]", "aufrichtig", "der-aufrichtig", "upright"]·EN["is-right", "right", "straight", "that-seems-right", "the-upright", "upright", "upright-one"]·FR["droit"]·heb["ישר", "ישרים"]·HI["याशर", "सीधा", "सीधा-है", "सीधे", "सीधे-लोग", "सीधे-लोगों", "सेएध"]·ID["adalah-benar", "jujur", "lurus", "orang-jujur", "orang-orang-jujur", "orang-orang-lurus", "orang-orang-yang-jujur", "yang-lurus"]·IT["retto"]·jav["ingkang-paling-leres", "jujur", "kang-leres", "lempeng", "leres", "tiyang-jujur", "tiyang-leres"]·KO["곧게", "바르니라", "바르다", "바른", "바른-것처럼", "바른-자여", "정직하고", "정직하다", "정직하시도다", "정직한-자-가", "정직한-자-들-은", "정직한-자-들-이", "정직한-자가", "정직한-자들이", "정직한지", "진실하게"]·PT["o-reto", "os-retos", "reta", "reto", "retos"]·RU["прав", "праведно", "праведные", "праведный", "прямо", "прямое", "прямой", "прямые", "прямый", "прямым,", "прямыми -", "честен"]·ES["el-recto", "es-recto", "los-rectos", "recta", "recto", "rectos"]·SW["Uliye-adili", "iliyonyooka", "inayoonekana-sawa", "mnyofu", "mwadilifu", "ni-sawa", "unyofu", "wanyofu"]·TR["Duz-olan", "dogru", "doğru", "doğru-kişi", "doğrular", "doğrusu", "duz", "dürüst"]·urd["اُن-کا-سیدھا", "سیدھا", "سیدھا-ہے", "سیدھوں-کے", "سیدھی", "سیدھی-ہے", "سیدھے", "سیدھے لوگ"]
1 Sam 29:6, 2 Kgs 10:15, Ezra 8:21, Neh 9:13, Job 1:1, Job 1:8, Job 2:3, Job 4:7, Job 8:6, Job 17:8, Job 23:7, Ps 7:10 (+38 more)
▼ 3 more sense(s) below
Senses
2. right, correct (of actions/things) — Applied to actions, conduct, or things that are right, correct, or pleasing — 43 occurrences concentrated in the Deuteronomistic history's recurring formula hayyashar be'eyne YHWH, 'what is right in the eyes of the LORD.' In Exod 15:26 God promises health to Israel 'if you do what is right in his eyes'; Deut 6:18 commands 'you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD'; and every king is evaluated by whether he did hayyashar (1 Kgs 15:5, 11; 22:43; 2 Kgs 10:30). This sense differs from sense 1 by applying to deeds and judgments rather than persons — Spanish lo recto ('the right thing') and German das Rechte both substantivize the adjective to mark this shift. Deut 12:8 provides a revealing negative case: 'everyone doing what is right in his own eyes' — where self-determined rightness contrasts with God-determined rightness, exposing the word's dependence on the evaluating perspective. 43×
AR["الـ-مُسْتَقِيمَ", "المُستَقيمَ", "المُسْتَقِيمَ", "الْ-مُسْتَقِيمَ", "الْمُسْتَقِيمَ", "الْمُسْتَقِيمِ", "ٱلْمُسْتَقِيمَ"]·ben["যা-সঠিক", "সঠিক", "সেই-সঠিক", "সৎ", "হ-সরল"]·DE["der-rechte", "der-rechts"]·EN["the-right"]·FR["le-droit", "le-droite"]·heb["ה-ישר"]·HI["जो-ठीक", "सही", "सीधा", "हय्याशर"]·ID["-benar", "-yang-benar", "yang benar", "yang-benar"]·IT["il-destra"]·jav["ingkang-leres", "leres"]·KO["그-바른-것을", "그-올바른-것", "그-올바른-것을", "그-옳은-것과", "올바른-것을", "옳은-것을", "정직한-것", "정직한-것을"]·PT["o-reto"]·RU["-праведное", "-правильное", "праведное", "правильное", "правое", "прямое"]·ES["lo-recto"]·SW["kilicho-sawa", "lililo-sawa", "unyofu", "yaliyo-sawa", "yaliyonyooka"]·TR["doğru", "doğru-o", "doğru-olanı", "doğruyu"]·urd["-جو-ٹھیک", "-جو-ٹھیک-ہے", "-سیدھا", "جو-ٹھیک", "درست", "راستی", "سیدھا", "سیدھی", "سیدھی-بات", "صحیح", "صحیح-"]
Exod 15:26, Deut 6:18, Deut 12:8, Deut 12:25, Deut 12:28, Deut 13:18, Deut 21:9, Josh 9:25, Judg 17:6, Judg 21:25, 1 Sam 12:23, 2 Sam 19:6 (+31 more)
3. straight, level (physically) — Physical straightness, levelness, or directness — 4 occurrences describing roads, paths, and bodily forms. In Ps 107:7 God led the wanderers by 'a straight way' (derekh yesharah) to an inhabited city; Jer 31:9 promises 'I will make them walk by streams of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble.' Ezek 1:7 describes the living creatures' legs as yesharah — 'straight,' without the bend of a human knee — while Ezek 1:23 applies the same word to their wings stretched 'straight' toward one another. German gerade ('straight, direct') and Spanish recta/recto select purely spatial vocabulary here, distinct from the moral terms used in senses 1-2. This is the etymological base sense from which the moral metaphor derives: physical straightness as the conceptual source for moral uprightness. The Ezekiel usage is strikingly concrete — angelic anatomy described with a surveyor's adjective. 4×
AR["مُستَقيم", "مُسْتَقيمَةٌ", "مُسْتَقِيمٍ"]·ben["সরল", "সোজা"]·DE["[ישר]", "aufrichtig", "gerade"]·EN["straight"]·FR["droit"]·heb["ישר", "ישרה", "ישרות"]·HI["सीधा", "सीधे"]·ID["lurus"]·IT["retto"]·jav["lempeng"]·KO["곧은", "바른"]·PT["reta", "retas", "reto"]·RU["прямая", "прямому", "прямые", "прямым"]·ES["recta", "rectas", "recto"]·SW["iliyonyoka", "nyofu", "wa-moja-kwa-moja", "yaliyonyooka"]·TR["doğru", "düz"]·urd["سیدھا", "سیدھی", "سیدھے"]
4. Yashar (Book of Yashar) — A proper name in the title Sefer haYashar, 'the Book of Yashar' (or 'Book of the Upright') — 2 occurrences. In Josh 10:13 the narrator cites this book as the source for the account of the sun standing still over Gibeon; in 2 Sam 1:18 David's lament over Saul and Jonathan is said to be written in it. Spanish el Yashar and German der Yashar both transliterate rather than translate, while some traditions render 'the Book of the Just.' The work is clearly a pre-canonical literary anthology — possibly a collection of heroic poetry celebrating Israel's warriors and their deeds — now lost except for these two citations. The title itself is significant: if yashar here means 'upright,' the book was an anthology of the righteous; if it retains more of its physical sense, it may have been a 'book of straight records' — an official chronicle. 2×
AR["الياشَرِ", "الْيَاشَرِ"]·ben["যাশরের", "সরলের"]·DE["der-Yashar"]·EN["the-Yashar"]·FR["le-Yashar"]·heb["ה-ישר"]·HI["याशर-की", "याशार-के"]·ID["Yashar"]·IT["il-Yashar"]·jav["Yasar"]·KO["야살의", "야샬의"]·PT["o-Yashar"]·RU["Праведного", "Яшар"]·ES["el-Justo", "el-Yashar"]·SW["cha-Yashari", "ha-Yashari"]·TR["Yaşar", "Yaşar'ın"]·urd["یاشر-کے", "یشر-کی"]
Related Senses
H0559 1. say, speak, tell (5297×)G3004 1. say, tell, speak (2226×)H1696 1. speak, say, tell (Piel) (1105×)H7121 1. call, summon, name (575×)H6680 1. command, order, charge (483×)H2896a 1. good (quality or moral) (305×)H6030b 1. answer, respond, reply (289×)G2980 1. speak, talk (277×)H7563 1. wicked person (259×)H5046 1. Hifil: to tell, report (237×)H7451c 1. moral evil or wickedness (234×)G0611 1. answer or respond verbally (232×)H1288 1. Piel: bless, invoke blessing (227×)H5771 1. iniquity, sin, wrongdoing (222×)H6662 1. righteous person (substantive) (195×)G0266 1. sin, failure, transgression (173×)H2403b 1. sin, transgression (170×)H2617a 1. Covenant faithfulness, steadfast love (167×)H2398 1. Qal: to sin, commit sin (165×)H7650 1. swear, take an oath (Niphal) (154×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† יָשָׁר adj. straight, right;—י׳ 1 S 29:6 + 70 times; cstr. יְשַׁר Pr 29:27; f. יְשָׁרָה Ez 1:7 + 4 times; pl. יְשָׁרִים Nu 23:10 + 31 times; cstr. יִשְׁרֵי ψ 7:11 + 8 times; f. יְשָׁרוֹת Ez 1:23 (del. Co);— 1. straight, level, of a way Is 26:7 Je 31:9 ψ 107:7 Ezr 8:21; foot Ez 1:7; wings v 23 (? v. supr.) 2. right, pleasing: a. to God, הַיָּשָׁר בעיני that which is right, pleasing in the eyes…