Hebrew word · H3256

יָסַר

yisar

to discipline

To instruct, correct, train or chasten. The related noun musar ("discipline, instruction") is one of Proverbs' key words (1:2, 1:7, 1:8). God is also said to yasar Israel the way a father does his son (Deut 8:5).

Appears 43 times in 38 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to chasten, discipline, instruct, admonish

1a)(Qal)

1a1) to chasten, admonish

1a2) to instruct

1a3) to discipline

1b) (Niphal) to let oneself be chastened or corrected or admonished

1c) (Piel)

1c1) to discipline, correct

1c2) to chasten, chastise

1d) (Hiphil) to chasten

1e) (Nithpael) to teach

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Proverbs 19:18

Range of meaning

To instruct, correct, train or chasten. The related noun musar ("discipline, instruction") is one of Proverbs' key words (1:2, 1:7, 1:8). It covers the whole process of shaping someone: spoken teaching (Prov 9:7; Isa 8:11, where God 'instructed' the prophet), rebuke, and physical punishment (Deut 22:18, where elders 'chastise' a man; 1 Kgs 12:11, 'chastise with whips'). God is also said to yasar Israel the way a father does his son (Deut 8:5).

Against the English

The modern English 'discipline' often narrows to 'punish', and for many readers to 'spank'. 'Chasten' and 'chastise' (KJV, YLT) lean even more toward pain. The Hebrew word is wider and aimed at a goal: forming a person who will turn out well.

How it drifted

Older English 'discipline' was close to 'training a disciple', and 'chasten' meant 'to make chaste or pure, to correct'. In ordinary modern speech both have shrunk toward punishment. Debates about corporal punishment have also tied this verse to spanking specifically.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, yasar/musar is usually rendered paideuō/paideia, the Greek words for education and child-rearing (Prov 19:18 LXX: paideue huion sou). Ancient Near Eastern wisdom texts combine teaching with the rod. The Aramaic Words of Ahiqar (5th century BC, Elephantine) say: 'Do not withhold your son from the rod… if I strike you, my son, you will not die.'

From the study of Proverbs 29:17

Range of meaning

To instruct, train, correct, warn, chasten. Its noun musar ("instruction, discipline") is one of the key words of Proverbs, paired with wisdom (1:2, 1:7) and with 'hearing' a father's teaching (1:8). The verb runs from verbal teaching and warning (Isaiah 8:11, 'he instructed me'; Job 4:3) to painful correction, including physical punishment (Deuteronomy 22:18; 1 Kings 12:11, 'chastise with whips'; Proverbs 19:18). God is often the one who does it, as a father does to a son (Deuteronomy 8:5; Proverbs 3:11–12).

Against the English

KJV and WEB 'correct', BSB 'discipline', YLT 'chastise'. 'Correct' and 'discipline' are fair. 'Chastise' leans toward the punishing end. In everyday modern English 'discipline' a child usually means 'punish', while the Hebrew word is first of all about training and forming a person, with punishment as one tool among several.

How it drifted

English 'discipline' comes from Latin disciplina ('teaching, training', related to discipulus, 'student'). In ordinary speech it has narrowed toward 'punishment', which happens to bring it close to the punishing end of yasar while losing its teaching end.

Used elsewhere in the period

The LXX translates the verb here with paideue, from paideia, the Greek word for the whole upbringing and education of a child, which also included correction. The Vulgate has erudi, 'educate, instruct'. Both ancient translators heard it as formation. Egyptian and Mesopotamian instruction texts (e.g. Instruction of Amenemope, Words of Ahiqar) likewise pair a father's teaching with correction, including the rod.

From the study of Proverbs 9:7

Range of meaning

To discipline, instruct, train, correct, chasten. It covers verbal teaching and warning (Prov 31:1, a mother's instruction; Isa 8:11) as well as physical chastisement (Deut 21:18; 1 Kgs 12:11, 'chastise with whips'). Its noun musar ('instruction, discipline') is a keyword of Proverbs (1:2, 3, 7, 8; 3:11; 4:13).

Against the English

'Corrects' (BSB, NIV, ESV, NASB, WEB), 'reproveth' (KJV), 'instructor' (YLT). 'Correct' fits, but the Hebrew also includes the teacher's whole formative task, not just pointing out a mistake.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deut 8:5 ('as a man disciplines his son, YHWH your God disciplines you'); Prov 3:11–12 pairs musar with tokhachat (reproof, from yakach), the same pair as this verse. In the LXX the regular equivalent is paideuō/paideia, 'to educate/education.'

Where it appears

Leviticus · 3

  1. Leviticus 26:18 לְיַסְּרָ֣ה to discipline

    And if after all this you will not obey Me, I will proceed to punish you sevenfold for your sins.

    Here: 'To discipline.' This is the language a father uses for correcting a son: painful, but aimed at bringing about a change. The unusual form with the ending -ah is a variant of the ordinary infinitive (the 'to ___' form of the verb).

  2. Leviticus 26:23 תִוָּסְר֖וּ you will let yourself be disciplined

    And if in spite of these things you do not accept My discipline, but continue to walk in hostility toward Me,

  3. Leviticus 26:28 וְיִסַּרְתִּ֤י and I will discipline

    then I will walk in fury against you, and I, even I, will punish you sevenfold for your sins.

    Here: The verb of a father training a son: correction with a purpose, which in that world could be harsh and physical. It recalls v. 23, 'if by these things you will not be disciplined'. The aim is to bring Israel back, as vv. 40–45 show.

Deuteronomy · 5

  1. Deuteronomy 4:36 לְיַסְּרֶ֑ךָּ to discipline you

    He let you hear His voice from heaven to discipline you, and on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the fire.

    Here: 'In order to train/correct you.' This is the purpose of the hearing. The word comes from a father raising a son (Deut 8:5) and joins teaching with correction. Here it means forming Israel through an overwhelming experience, not punishing them.

  2. Deuteronomy 8:5 יְיַסֵּ֥ר מְיַסְּרֶֽךָּ׃ he disciplines, [is] disciplining you

    So know in your heart that just as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.

    Here: Imperfect of habitual action: what a father customarily does. The intensive verb form of yasar means to train, instruct, correct, and when needed punish, all aimed at forming the child.

  3. Deuteronomy 21:18 וְיסְּר֣וּ and they will discipline

    If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and does not listen to them when disciplined,

    Here: "And they discipline him." The verb is plural: both parents together. It covers correction, warning and training, which may include physical punishment but is not limited to it. It is the verb of Deuteronomy 8:5: "as a man disciplines his son, so YHWH your God disciplines you."

  4. Deuteronomy 22:18 וְיִסְּר֖וּ and they will punish

    Then the elders of that city shall take the man and punish him.

    Here: The intensive form of the verb for disciplining or correcting. It can mean verbal correction, but it often means physical punishment (1 Kings 12:11, 14: 'chastise with whips'). Here, from judges acting on a convicted man, it most likely means a flogging, which is how ancient Jewish interpreters understood it.

1 Kings · 4

  1. 1 Kings 12:11 יִסַּ֤ר אֲיַסֵּ֥ר he disciplined, I will discipline

    Whereas my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. Whereas my father scourged you with whips, I will scourge you with scorpions.’”

  2. 1 Kings 12:14 יִסַּ֤ר אֲיַסֵּ֥ר he disciplined, I will discipline

    and spoke to them as the young men had advised, saying, “Whereas my father made your yoke heavy, I will add to your yoke. Whereas my father scourged you with whips, I will scourge you with scorpions.”

1 Chronicles · 1

  1. 1 Chronicles 15:22 יָסֹר֙ an instructor

    Chenaniah the head Levite was the director of the music because he was highly skilled.

2 Chronicles · 2

  1. 2 Chronicles 10:11 יִסַּ֤ר he disciplined

    Whereas my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. Whereas my father scourged you with whips, I will scourge you with scorpions.’”

  2. 2 Chronicles 10:14 יִסַּ֤ר he disciplined

    and spoke to them as the young men had advised, saying, “Whereas my father made your yoke heavy, I will add to your yoke. Whereas my father scourged you with whips, I will scourge you with scorpions.”

Job · 1

  1. Job 4:3 יִסַּ֣רְתָּ you have instructed

    Surely you have instructed many, and have strengthened their feeble hands.

    Here: 'You have trained / corrected / instructed.' The word covers forming someone through teaching and, where needed, correction. It is the word for how a father raises a son. Job has been the one who shaped and steadied other people. The verb is completed past action: this is what Job has done.

Psalms · 9

  1. Psalm 2:10 הִ֝וָּסְר֗וּ let yourselves be instructed

    Therefore be wise, O kings; be admonished, O judges of the earth.

    Here: A form meaning "let yourselves be corrected / accept the warning." The root is the word for a father's discipline, including the rod; coming right after the "rod of iron" in v. 9, it says: accept correction now, while it is still a warning, before it becomes a beating.

  2. Psalm 6:1 תְיַסְּרֵֽנִי׃ you discipline me

    For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments, according to Sheminith. A Psalm of David. O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger or discipline me in Your wrath.

    Here: The word for how a father trains a son (Deut 8:5; Prov 3:11–12). It covers instruction as well as painful correction. The psalmist asks for training that is not carried out in rage.

  3. Psalm 16:7 יִסְּר֥וּנִי they have instructed me

    I will bless the LORD who counsels me; even at night my conscience instructs me.

    Here: 'They have disciplined/trained me.' This verb belongs to the vocabulary of a parent forming a child, where teaching and correcting go together. Here the inner self keeps working on the speaker and shaping him. The form describes something that has happened and keeps happening.

  4. Psalm 38:1 תְיַסְּרֵֽנִי׃ may you chasten me

    A Psalm of David, for remembrance. O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger or discipline me in Your wrath.

    Here: 'May you discipline me,' with 'not' carried over from the first line. Yasar is the word for a father training a son, and it can mean teaching or physical punishment. The speaker does not reject being trained; he begs that it not come as burning rage.

  5. Psalm 39:11 יִסַּ֬רְתָּ you have disciplined

    You discipline and correct a man for his iniquity, consuming like a moth what he holds dear; surely each man is but a vapor. Selah

    Here: "You have disciplined." The word for the training a father gives a son, which can include painful correction. It does not mean destroying someone; it means correcting them, though here it hurts badly.

  6. Psalm 94:10 הֲיֹסֵ֣ר ¿ [the] discipliner of

    He who admonishes the nations, does He not discipline? He who teaches man, does He lack knowledge?

  7. Psalm 94:12 תְּיַסְּרֶ֣נּוּ you discipline him

    Blessed is the man You discipline, O LORD, and teach from Your law,

    Here: "You correct/train him." The intensive form of yasar is used for a father bringing up a son. It includes verbal warning and, when needed, physical correction. The verb form describes something God keeps doing, an ongoing upbringing rather than one punishment. It picks up the same verb from v.10, where God is the one who "disciplines nations."

  8. Psalm 118:18 יַסֹּ֣ר יִסְּרַ֣נִּי certainly <to discipline>, he has disciplined me

    The LORD disciplined me severely, but He has not given me over to death.

    Here: An infinitive, a verb form with no person or tense, placed in front of the same verb to strengthen it: roughly 'disciplining.' Doubling the verb this way says the discipline was real and hard: 'he truly, harshly disciplined me.'

Proverbs · 5

  1. Proverbs 9:7 יֹ֤סֵ֨ר׀ [one who] admonishes

    He who corrects a mocker brings shame on himself; he who rebukes a wicked man taints himself.

    Here: An ongoing action ('one who goes about correcting'): the teacher's or parent's work of training someone, mostly by words, sometimes by punishment. It is the verb behind musar, the 'instruction/discipline' that Proverbs is written to give (1:2, 1:7).

  2. Proverbs 19:18 יַסֵּ֣ר discipline

    Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be party to his death.

    Here: A command to the parent: correct and train the boy. In Proverbs this covers teaching, warning and rebuke as well as physical punishment. The verb form is intensive, so it means steady, deliberate shaping, not one outburst.

  3. Proverbs 29:17 יַסֵּ֣ר discipline

    Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will bring delight to your soul.

    Here: A command to the parent (singular 'you'): take your son in hand and shape him through teaching, warning and correction. The word covers both instruction and correction, so it is wider than the English 'punish'. It stands first in the sentence, so the effort comes first and the reward follows.

  4. Proverbs 29:19 יִוָּ֣סֶר he will let himself be instructed

    A servant cannot be corrected by words alone; though he understands, he will not respond.

  5. Proverbs 31:1 יִסְּרַ֥תּוּ she instructed him

    These are the words of King Lemuel—the burden that his mother taught him:

    Here: 'She disciplined/instructed him'. The verb is the root of mûsār, the 'discipline' that runs through Proverbs. It means shaping someone by correction, warning and instruction, not just passing on information. It is a completed-action verb with 'him' attached: this is training she already gave him.

Isaiah · 2

  1. Isaiah 8:11 וְיִסְּרֵ֕נִי and he will instruct me

    For this is what the LORD has spoken to me with a strong hand, instructing me not to walk in the way of this people:

  2. Isaiah 28:26 וְיִסְּר֥וֹ and he instructs him

    For his God instructs and teaches him properly.

    Here: 'And he trains him.' This is the shaping kind of instruction, like a master forming an apprentice. Elsewhere the same verb can mean chastising, but nothing here suggests punishment. The 'and' continues the farmer's routine described in verse 25: he levels, sows, plants, and through all of it his God is training him.

Jeremiah · 7

  1. Jeremiah 2:19 תְּיַסְּרֵ֣ךְ it will punish you

    Your own evil will discipline you; your own apostasies will reprimand you. Consider and realize how evil and bitter it is for you to forsake the LORD your God and to have no fear of Me,” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.

    Here: "It will discipline you" (feminine you: Judah/Jerusalem pictured as a woman). This is the verb a father uses for training a son through correction, so the bitter irony is that Judah's own evil now becomes her teacher.

  2. Jeremiah 6:8 הִוָּסְרִי֙ let yourself be instructed

    Be forewarned, O Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you; I will make you a desolation, a land without inhabitant.”

    Here: A command addressed to Jerusalem as a woman: 'let yourself be corrected', 'accept the discipline'. It is the language of a parent correcting a child. Jerusalem is told to learn from the blows already landing on her, not just to 'be warned' about future ones.

  3. Jeremiah 10:24 יַסְּרֵ֥נִי correct me

    Correct me, O LORD, but only with justice—not in Your anger, or You will bring me to nothing.

    Here: An imperative with 'me' attached: 'discipline me!' This is the verb for a father training a son, and the training could include the rod. The speaker does not ask to escape punishment. He asks for it, but as the kind of punishment that teaches.

  4. Jeremiah 30:11 וְיִסַּרְתִּ֙יךָ֙ and I will discipline you

    For I am with you to save you, declares the LORD. Though I will completely destroy all the nations to which I have scattered you, I will not completely destroy you. Yet I will discipline you justly, and will by no means leave you unpunished.”

    Here: 'And I will correct you': the training-by-correction a father gives a son. It is painful and real, but its aim is to set right, not to destroy.

  5. Jeremiah 31:18 יִסַּרְתַּ֙נִי֙ וָֽאִוָּסֵ֔ר you have disciplined me, and I was disciplined

    I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: ‘You disciplined me severely, like an untrained calf. Restore me, that I may return, for You are the LORD my God.

    Here: An intensive verb form: 'you corrected me.' This is the word for a parent's or teacher's correction, which can be painful but aims to train. Ephraim now reads the disaster of exile as that kind of correction from God.

  6. Jeremiah 46:28 וְיִסַּרְתִּ֙יךָ֙ and I will discipline you

    And you, My servant Jacob, do not be afraid, declares the LORD, for I am with you. Though I will completely destroy all the nations to which I have banished you, I will not completely destroy you. Yet I will discipline you justly, and will by no means leave you unpunished.”

    Here: “And I will discipline you.” This is a parent’s or teacher’s correction meant to shape and reform the child. It still hurts, but it has a purpose.

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 23:48 וְנִֽוַּסְּרוּ֙ and they will be warned

    So I will put an end to indecency in the land, and all the women will be admonished not to imitate your behavior.

Hosea · 3

  1. Hosea 7:12 אַיְסִרֵ֕ם I will chasten them

    As they go, I will spread My net over them; I will bring them down like birds of the air. I will chastise them when I hear them flocking together.

  2. Hosea 7:15 יִסַּ֔רְתִּי I instructed [them]

    Although I trained and strengthened their arms, they plot evil against Me.

  3. Hosea 10:10 וְאֶסֳּרֵ֑ם and I will discipline them

    I will chasten them when I please; nations will be gathered against them to put them in bondage for their double transgression.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.