What does יָשַׁר (hayšar) mean in the Bible?
Being or making straight can describe a route, a directed course or a judgment that something is right. The passage determines which application is present.
Hebrew · H3474
יָשַׁר
Being or making straight can describe a route, a directed course or a judgment that something is right. The passage determines which application is present.
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יָשַׁרH3474
Pronunciationhayšar
What does יָשַׁר (hayšar) mean in the Bible?
Reader summary
Full entry for יָשַׁר (H3474) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H3474?
The BSB source-word alignment has 25 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include pleased (2), a straight path (1), and channeled (1), and I will make (1), and level (1).
Where does יָשַׁר (hayšar) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Numbers 23:27. Its strongest book concentrations include Proverbs (5), 1 Samuel (3), Isaiah (3), 1 Kings (2).
What This Word Actually Means
Being or making straight can describe a route, a directed course or a judgment that something is right. The passage determines which application is present. Proverbs 3:6 promises that God will make the trusting person's paths straight after warning against dependence on personal understanding. First Samuel 6:12 describes the cows carrying the ark along a straight road to Beth-shemesh within a particular test proposed by the Philistines.
Isaiah 40:3 calls for making a highway straight for the Lord amid the announcement of comfort for His people. These scenes use direction differently: a wisdom exhortation, an unusual narrated journey and a prophetic proclamation. The verb is not an automatic promise of easy circumstances or a method for discovering an individual future. Reading it carefully means identifying the traveler, the guide and the purpose of the path before extending its image into present decisions.
Passage contextPastoral application
How the Bible Uses It
Wisdom's trusting path, the ark's straight journey and Isaiah's prepared highway give direction distinct narrative and theological roles. A literal road and a faithful course belong to related imagery without identical promises.
- Prov.3.6
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.
The promise of straight paths follows wholehearted trust and refusal to lean on one's own understanding; it does not spell out a predictive map of each decision.
- 1Sam.6.12
And the cows headed straight up the road toward Beth-shemesh, staying on that one highway and lowing as they went, never straying to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed behind them to the border of Beth-shemesh.
The cows keep to the road without turning aside in the specific ark-return test; their movement is a narrative outcome rather than a routine guidance technique.
- Isa.40.3
A voice of one calling: “Prepare the way for the Lord in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert.
The call to prepare a straight highway belongs to the proclamation of the Lord's coming and comfort for His people, not merely a generic lesson in personal planning.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Itpleased2×1 Samuel 18:20, 2 Chronicles 30:4
a straight path1×Proverbs 15:21
and channeled1×2 Chronicles 32:30
and I will make1×Isaiah 45:13
and level1×Isaiah 45:2
best1×Jeremiah 18:4
directs1×Proverbs 11:5
good1×2 Samuel 17:4
hammered evenly1×1 Kings 6:35
headed straight1×1 Samuel 6:12
I admire1×Psalms 119:128
I please1×Jeremiah 27:5
is pleasing1×Judges 14:3
it will please1×Numbers 23:27
make a straight1×Isaiah 40:3
make straight1×Psalms 5:8
pleased with1×1 Kings 9:12
right1×1 Chronicles 13:4
she was pleasing1×Judges 14:7
straight1×Proverbs 4:25
upright1×Habakkuk 2:4
was pleased1×1 Samuel 18:26
who make1×Proverbs 9:15
will make1×Proverbs 3:6
Show sample aligned rows
Numbers 23:27יִישַׁר֙toit will pleaseVerb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singularJudges 14:3יָשְׁרָ֥הtois pleasingVerb - Qal - Perfect - third person feminine singularJudges 14:7וַתִּישַׁ֖רtoshe was pleasingConjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person feminine singular1 Samuel 6:12וַיִשַּׁ֨רְנָהtoheaded straightConjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person feminine plural1 Samuel 18:20וַיִּשַׁ֥רtopleasedConjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular1 Samuel 18:26וַיִּשַׁ֤רtowas pleasedConjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular2 Samuel 17:4וַיִּישַׁ֥רtogoodConjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular1 Kings 6:35מְיֻשָּׁ֖רtohammered evenlyVerb - Pual - Participle - masculine singular1 Kings 9:12יָשְׁר֖וּtopleased withVerb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural1 Chronicles 13:4יָשַׁ֥רtorightVerb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowNumbers 23:27
Aligned rows25
Books represented12
Numbers1Judges21 Samuel32 Samuel11 Kings21 Chronicles12 Chronicles2Psalms2Proverbs5Isaiah3Jeremiah2Habakkuk1
Source forms
וַיִּישַׁ֥ר2xway·yî·šar2 Samuel 17:4, 2 Chronicles 30:4
יָשַׁ֥ר2xyā·šar1 Chronicles 13:4, Jeremiah 27:5
יָשְׁרָ֥ה2xyā·šə·rāhJudges 14:3, Habakkuk 2:4
אוֹשִׁר1xʾō·širIsaiah 45:2
אֲיַשֵּׁ֑ר1x’ă·yaš·šêrIsaiah 45:13
הוֹשַׁר1xhō·šarPsalms 5:8
הַֽ֝מְיַשְּׁרִ֗ים1xham·yaš·šə·rîmProverbs 9:15
וַֽיַּישְּׁרֵ֥ם1xway·yayš·šə·rêm2 Chronicles 32:30
Parsing patterns
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular4x1 Samuel 18:20, 1 Samuel 18:26, 2 Samuel 17:4, 2 Chronicles 30:4
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular3x1 Chronicles 13:4, Jeremiah 18:4, Jeremiah 27:5
Verb - Piel - Imperfect - first person common singular2xIsaiah 45:2, Isaiah 45:13
Verb - Piel - Imperfect - third person masculine singular2xProverbs 3:6, Proverbs 15:21
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person feminine singular2xJudges 14:3, Habakkuk 2:4
Article | Verb - Piel - Participle - masculine plural1xProverbs 9:15
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Piel - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular | third person masculine plural1x2 Chronicles 32:30
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person feminine plural1x1 Samuel 6:12
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Practice acknowledgment of God and attention to His instruction without demanding complete certainty about the future.
- Offer patient counsel to people facing difficult choices rather than declaring hardship a reliable measure of deficient faith.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim straight paths mean all circumstances become easy; Proverbs 3 grounds the promise in trust rather than a catalogue of painless outcomes.
- Do not claim every straight-road occurrence predicts John the Baptist; Matthew specifically cites Isaiah's proclamation, not the entire Hebrew word family.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. Straightness as moral and relational rightness: what is geometrically direct becomes ethically proper and divinely pleasing
Strong'sH3474
Lexical occurrences28 versesWord forms4 forms19 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Study linkPsalm 5:8–12Source Gloss
to be straight or even ; figuratively, to be (causatively, to make ) right , pleasant , prosperous
Extended definitionSource: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
Straightness as moral and relational rightness: what is geometrically direct becomes ethically proper and divinely pleasing
to be straight or even; figuratively, to be (causatively, to make) right, pleasant, prosperous BDB: be smooth Usage: direct, fit, seem good (meet), please (will), be (esteem, go) right (on), bring (look, make, take the) straight (way), be upright(-ly).
Grammatical Forms
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Form groups4Aligned forms19
Qalbasic active stem — the word in its most common, direct sense7×
Perfect1Chr 13:4 · Jer 18:4 · Jer 27:5 · Hab 2:4 · Judg 14:3 · 1Kgs 9:126×
ImperfectNum 23:271×
Pielintensive active — emphasizes thoroughness or repeated action7×
ImperfectIsa 45:2 · Isa 45:13 · Prov 3:6 · Prov 15:21 · Prov 11:55×
Sequential imperfectIsa 40:31×
PerfectPs 119:1281×
Hiphilcausative active — the subject causes someone else to perform the action4×
Sequential imperfectPs 5:92×
ImperfectIsa 45:21×
JussiveProv 4:251×
Pualintensive passive — intensive action received by the subject1×
Participle passive1Kgs 6:351×
Selected Scripture Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Old Testament Witnesses
Make level, smooth, or straight; refers to moral and practical clarity
Showing 1 selected witness from 28 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
יָשַׁר is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
For the Preacher and Teacher
Proverbs asks for trust in the Lord rather than exclusive reliance on one's own understanding. The straightened path belongs to that posture of acknowledgment, not to a guarantee that every future choice will be revealed in advance. The cows in First Samuel follow a literal road during the return of the ark, and their course answers a particular test in that story.
Isaiah's highway image has another scale: prepare for the Lord as His people hear comfort and the announcement of His glory. Matthew explicitly quotes that proclamation in identifying John the Baptist's ministry. Teaching can follow this canonical connection because Matthew supplies it, while refusing to make every straight road an encoded prediction of Christ or every difficult circumstance proof of failed trust.
God's direction calls for faithful acknowledgment and attention to His revealed word.
Anchor passage
Prov.3.6
Doctrinal connections
- Proverbs 3:5-7 places straightened paths beside wholehearted trust, acknowledgment of God and departure from evil.
- First Samuel 6:10-14 reports the cows' direct course during the ark's return and the observers' response.
- Isaiah 40:1-5 announces comfort and prepares a highway for the Lord before the revelation of His glory.
- Psalm 5:7-9 asks God to make His way straight amid enemies, locating guidance within dependence and righteousness.
- Psalm 119:126-130 places regard for God's precepts beside rejection of false ways and the illumination of His words.
- Matthew 3:1-3 explicitly quotes Isaiah's prepared-way proclamation to identify John the Baptist's ministry.
The verb can describe straight movement or making a course right. Spatial and evaluative uses require their own objects; neither direction nor what pleases a person should be made a complete measure of righteousness by the word alone.
From Old to New Testament
Isaiah 40:3 calls for preparing the Lord's way, and Matthew 3:1-3 explicitly quotes that text in identifying John the Baptist. The connection comes from Matthew's citation and setting, not from a hidden messianic definition inside the Hebrew verb. Proverbs' trusting path and the ark's literal road still require explanation within their different passages.
Passage contextCanonical parallelPastoral application