יָמִין

From the study of Isaiah 41:13

Range of meaning

Right hand; right side; south (facing east). The right hand stands for strength, skill, power in battle and the place of honour.

Against the English

All the major versions say "right hand." The translation is accurate, but readers may not notice that "right" matters.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exod 15:6, "your right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy." Ps 73:23, "you hold my right hand" (a different verb, ʾāḥaz). Ps 110:1, the place at the right hand. Isa 41:10, "my righteous right hand." Isa 45:1, Cyrus's right hand grasped.

From the study of Proverbs 4:27

Range of meaning

Right and left, as hands or as directions. Together, "right or left" is a fixed Hebrew phrase meaning "in any direction off the set course." Elsewhere the right hand can signal strength or favour (e.g. Gen 48:13–19; Ps 110:1). In this phrase, though, the two sides are equal and both are wrong.

Against the English

English versions render it correctly. The risk lies with the reader: a modern reader may hear "right or left" as "avoid extremes" or as political wings. The Hebrew phrase is about exactness, keeping to the road, not about finding a midpoint between two opposite errors.

How it drifted

The Greek translators read a value judgement into the pair: right roads are known by God, left roads are twisted (LXX 4:27a). Later moral writers sometimes read the verse as a "middle way" between extremes. Neither idea comes from the Hebrew phrase itself.

Used elsewhere in the period

The phrase belongs to the language of covenant loyalty in Deuteronomy and the books that follow it: "you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left" from what the LORD commanded (Deut 5:32; 17:11, 20; 28:14; Josh 1:7; 23:6). Josiah "did not turn aside to the right or to the left" (2 Kgs 22:2). Its literal road use appears in Deut 2:27 and Num 20:17.

From the study of Proverbs 3:16

Range of meaning

Yāmîn means 'right hand, right side', and it can also mean 'south' (the right side when facing east). It stands for strength, favor and the place of honor (Gen 48:13–19; Ps 16:11; Ps 110:1). Śəmōʾl means 'left hand, left side', and also 'north'. Paired, the two words mean 'on every side, completely'.

Against the English

English versions all add 'hand', which is correct. English readers may not feel how strongly the right hand implied favor and blessing.

Used elsewhere in the period

When Jacob blesses Joseph's sons, the greater blessing goes with the right hand (Gen 48). Ps 16:11 says 'at your right hand are pleasures forever'. In Egyptian art, gods and the goddess Maat often hold the ankh (the sign of life) in one hand and a scepter (power, prosperity) in the other. Some scholars see that picture behind this verse (see debates).