אָשַׁר ʼâshar — to be straight (used in the widest sense, especially to be level, right, happy)
Translated in the KJV as (call, be) bless(-ed, happy), go, guide, lead, relieve.
or אָשֵׁר; a primitive root; to be straight (used in the widest sense, especially to be level, right, happy); figuratively, to go forward, be honest, prosper.
ʼâshar in each stem
Pi'el
Wayyiqtol 3Participle (active) 3Imperative 2Perfect (qatal) 1Imperfect (yiqtol) 1Jussive 1Sequential perfect (weqatal) 1
And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher.
When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me:
His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed.
Pu'al
Sequential perfect (weqatal) 2Participle (passive) 2
The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.
She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.
The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.
Qal (Pa'al)
Imperative 1
Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.
What the stems mean
A Hebrew verb is its root letters set into a pattern. The pattern — the binyan — is the grammar's way of saying three things at once: whether the action is simple, intensive or causative, and whether its subject is active, passive or reflexive. That is why one Hebrew word can need six English ones. All seven binyanim, explained ›