📖 Biblical Definition
Hebrew yashar, upright / straight / right, the OT moral category for upright conduct in contrast to crooked or perverse ways. The term appears in foundational moral formulations: the great deuteronomic exhortation thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD (Deuteronomy 6:18, ha-yashar veha-tov); the great failure-formula of the period of the judges (every man did that which was right in his own eyes, Judges 17:6; 21:25); the wisdom-tradition's celebration of the upright (Proverbs 11:6, the righteousness of the upright shall deliver them); Psalm 33:1 (praise is comely for the upright). The lost Book of Jasher (Sefer ha-Yashar, literally Book of the Upright) is referenced in Joshua 10:13 and 2 Samuel 1:18 as a collection of upright Israel's epic poetry. The contrast in OT usage is sharp: the LORD's ways are yashar (Hosea 14:9, the ways of the LORD are right); the wicked's ways are crooked (Proverbs 2:15, whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths). The patriarchal-Reformed reader recovers yashar as the moral straightforwardness that characterizes the upright in covenant relation to the LORD — conduct conforming to the LORD's revealed will, opposed both to the moral relativism of every man doing right in his own eyes and to the calculated crookedness of cynical manipulation.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Hebrew yashar (H3477), upright / straight / right; OT moral category for conduct conforming to the LORD's revealed will, opposed to every man doing right in his own eyes.
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YASHAR, Hebrew adj. (H3477; upright, straight, right) OT moral category for upright conduct in contrast to crooked or perverse ways. Foundational formulations: thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD (Deuteronomy 6:18); every man did that which was right in his own eyes (Judges 17:6; 21:25 — the great failure-formula). Book of Jasher (Sefer ha-Yashar, Book of the Upright) referenced in Joshua 10:13 and 2 Samuel 1:18. The ways of the LORD are yashar (Hosea 14:9); the wicked's ways are crooked (Proverbs 2:15). The patriarchal-Reformed recovery: moral straightforwardness conforming to the LORD's revealed will, opposed to both relativism and cynical manipulation.
📖 Key Scripture
Deuteronomy 6:18 — "And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers."
Judges 21:25 — "In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes."
Proverbs 11:6 — "The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness."
Hosea 14:9 — "Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
No major postmodern redefinition. The principal contemporary mishandling is the cultural reversal that treats every man doing right in his own eyes as virtuous autonomy rather than as Judges' great failure-formula.
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Yashar as a Hebrew term does not undergo lexical corruption. The principal contemporary cultural reversal is the treatment of every man did that which was right in his own eyes (Judges 17:6; 21:25) as virtuous autonomy rather than as the great failure-formula of the period of the judges. Late-modern Western individualism reads the formula approvingly: each person determining what is right by his own judgment is taken as the apex of liberty. The biblical text reads the formula as the diagnosis of catastrophe: when every man does right in his own eyes, the people descend into the chaos of Judges 17-21 (idolatry, civil war, gang rape, near-genocide of a tribe). The patriarchal-Reformed reader recovers the biblical category: yashar is conduct conforming to the LORD's revealed will, not conduct conforming to the individual's autonomous judgment.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
H3477; upright / straight / right; Book of Jasher; Judges 17:6 the great failure-formula.
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['Hebrew', 'H3477', 'yashar', 'upright, straight, right']
['Hebrew', 'H3474', 'yashar (vb)', 'to be straight, level, right (verbal root)']
['Hebrew', 'H3476', 'yosher', 'uprightness, equity (related noun)']
Usage
"Yashar: upright; conduct conforming to the LORD's revealed will."
"Right and good in the sight of the LORD (Deuteronomy 6:18)."
"Contrast: every man did that which was right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25, the failure-formula)."