To smooth
יָשַׁרStrong’s H3474yashar (ya-shar)
Appears in 25 verses of the Old Testament
In short
Yashar is the Hebrew word usually translated “it was pleasing”, “make straight” and “make smooth”. It appears in 25 verses of the Old Testament.
“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.”
Meaning
- To be right, be straight, be level, be upright, be just, be lawful, be smooth(Qal) · (Piel) · (Pual) to be made level, be laid smoothly out · (Hiphil) to make straight, look straight
How it's translated
- and it was pleasing 4
- it was pleasing 2
- make straight 2
- i will make smooth 2
- it will be pleasing 1
- she is pleasing 1
- and she was pleasing 1
- and they were straight 1
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- Proverbs 5
- 1 Samuel 3
- Isaiah 3
- Judges 2
- 1 Kings 2
- 2 Chronicles 2
12 books in all.
Explore in Scripture
- Judges 14:3Then 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.
- Judges 14:7And he went down, and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well.
- 1 Samuel 6:12And the kine took the straight way to the way of Bethshemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Bethshemesh.
- 1 Samuel 18:20And Michal Saul’s daughter loved David: and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him.
- 1 Samuel 18:26And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king’s son in law: and the days were not expired.
- 2 Samuel 17:4And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel.
Hebrew dictionary
יָשַׁר yashar · to smooth
1) to be right, be straight, be level, be upright, be just, be lawful, be smooth 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to go straight 1a2) to be pleasing, be agreeable, be right (fig.) 1a3) to be straightforward, be upright 1b) (Piel) 1b1) to make right, make smooth, make straight 1b2) to lead, direct, lead straight along 1b3) to esteem right, approve 1c) (Pual) to be made level, be laid smoothly out 1d) (Hiphil) to make straight, look straight
From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “smooth” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
SMOOTH, adjective
[Latin mitis.]
- Having an even surface, or a surface so even that no roughness or points are perceptible to the touch; not rough; as smooth glass; smooth porcelain.
- To free from obstruction; to make easy.
- To free from harshness; to make flowing.
- To palliate; to soften; as, to smooth a fault.
All definitions
- To calm; to mollify; to allay.
- To ease.
- To flatter; to soften with blandishments.
Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.
Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Hebrew, not from any one translation.