יָשַׁר yâshar — to be straight or even

pronounced yaw-shar' · Strong's H3474 · 28 occurrences in the Hebrew Bible · 4 stems: Qal (Pa'al), Pi'el, Hiph'il, Pu'al

Translated in the KJV as direct, fit, seem good, please, be (esteem, go) right, bring (look, make, take the) straight, be upright.

a primitive root; to be straight or even; figuratively, to be (causatively, to make) right, pleasant, prosperous.

yâshar in each stem

Qal (Pa'al) 14×

Simple · active — the plain action; the subject does it

Perfect (qatal) 6Wayyiqtol 6Imperfect (yiqtol) 2

יִישַׁר֙ Num 23:27 Imperfect (yiqtol), 3rd person masculine singular

And Balak said unto Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee unto another place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence. (KJV)

יָשְׁרָ֥ה Judg 14:3 Perfect (qatal), 3rd person feminine singular

Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well. (KJV)

וַתִּישַׁ֖ר Judg 14:7 Wayyiqtol, 3rd person feminine singular

And he went down, and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well. (KJV)

Pi'el 10×

Intensive · active — the action intensified, repeated or brought about; the subject does it

Imperfect (yiqtol) 6Wayyiqtol 1Perfect (qatal) 1Participle (active) 1Imperative 1

וַֽיַּישְּׁרֵ֥ם 2Chr 32:30 Wayyiqtol, 3rd person masculine singular

This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works. (KJV)

יִשָּׁ֑רְתִּי Ps 119:128 Perfect (qatal), 1st person common singular

Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way. (KJV)

יְיַשֵּׁ֥ר Prov 3:6 Imperfect (yiqtol), 3rd person masculine singular

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. (KJV)

Hiph'il 3×

Causative · active — causing someone or something to do the action; the subject does it

Imperative 2Jussive 1

הושר Ps 5:9 Imperative, 2nd person masculine singular

For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue. (KJV)

יַיְשִׁ֥רוּ Prov 4:25 Jussive, 3rd person masculine plural

Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. (KJV)

Pu'al 1×

Intensive · passive — the action intensified, repeated or brought about; the subject has it done to them

Participle (passive) 1

מְיֻשָּׁ֖ר 1Kgs 6:35 Participle (passive), masculine singular

And he carved thereon cherubims and palm trees and open flowers: and covered them with gold fitted upon the carved work. (KJV)

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 ›

Open in Hebrew Explorer with Verb Anatomy on →

In the app, tap any Hebrew verb while reading: its root, stem and form are named, the letters of the word itself are coloured to show which is which, and the stem's meaning is put in plain English. yâshar in the lexicon ›

Morphology from OpenScriptures MorphHB (CC BY 4.0); definitions from Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (public domain); text from the Westminster Leningrad Codex.

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