Hebrew word · H3476

יֹ֫שֶׁר

yosher

uprightness

Straightness or levelness, and in the moral sense uprightness, honesty, rightness (Deut 9:5, 'the uprightness of your heart'; Job 33:23). It belongs to the root yashar, 'to be straight, level, right,' which is used of roads made smooth (Isa 40:3–4) as well as of upright people.

Appears 14 times in 14 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated October 30, 2026

What it means

1) straightness, uprightness

1a) straightness, evenness (moral implications)

1b) rightness, uprightness

1c) what is right, what is due

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 4:11

Range of meaning: Straightness or levelness, and in the moral sense uprightness, honesty, rightness (Deut 9:5, 'the uprightness of your heart'; Job 33:23). It belongs to the root yashar, 'to be straight, level, right,' which is used of roads made smooth (Isa 40:3–4) as well as of upright people.
Against the English: 'Straight paths' (BSB, WEB, NIV) keeps the physical picture. 'Right paths' (KJV) and 'paths of uprightness' (ESV) keep the moral sense. 'Upright paths' (NASB) blends both. No single English word holds both 'level, unobstructed' and 'morally right' the way yosher does.
How it drifted: 'Straight' today usually means 'not bending.' In Hebrew road imagery the stress falls as much on 'level, smooth, free of obstacles' as on 'direct.'
Used elsewhere in the period: Prov 2:13 speaks of those 'who leave the paths of uprightness (orchot yosher) to walk in the ways of darkness.' Ps 107:7 says derekh yesharah ('a straight/level way'). Isa 40:3–4 pictures a road leveled and made smooth.

From the study of Proverbs 11:24

Range of meaning: Straightness, uprightness, rightness, what is fitting or proper. It is used of moral integrity (Deut 9:5; Prov 2:13, 'paths of uprightness'; 4:11) and of speaking what is right (Prov 17:26; Job 6:25).
Against the English: KJV 'more than is meet' and WEB 'more than is appropriate' take the prefix as comparative ('more than'). BSB 'withholds what is right', YLT 'keeping back from uprightness' and ESV 'what he should give' take it as 'from' (withholding what is due). NIV 'unduly' blurs the two.
How it drifted: In the KJV phrase 'more than is meet', 'meet' is archaic English for 'fitting, proper'. Readers today often skip over it or misread it.
Used elsewhere in the period: Proverbs 3:27 states the related principle directly: 'Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.' Leviticus 19:13 and Deuteronomy 24:14–15 forbid holding back a worker's wages.

From the study of Deuteronomy 9:5

Range of meaning: Straightness, levelness, uprightness, honesty. The adjective yashar describes a straight or level road and a person who is honest and has integrity. In wisdom literature the 'upright' are people whose path does not twist.
Against the English: KJV/ESV/NASB/BSB 'uprightness of heart'; NIV 'integrity'; NLT turns it into a statement about character. 'Integrity' captures the meaning well but loses the physical picture of a straight path.
Used elsewhere in the period: 1 Kgs 9:4 pairs 'integrity of heart and uprightness' in describing David. Job 33:3 and Ps 119:7 use yosher levav for sincerity. Prov 14:2 sets the one who 'walks in his uprightness' against the devious. The Greek translation (LXX) renders it here with hosiotēs, 'piety, devoutness'.

Where it appears

Deuteronomy · 1

Deuteronomy 9:5 וּבְיֹ֙שֶׁר֙ and in [the] uprightness of

It is not because of your righteousness or uprightness of heart that you are going in to possess their land, but it is because of their wickedness that the LORD your God is driving out these nations before you, to keep the promise He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Here: 'And because of the straightness of…' A picture word: something level and not crooked. It adds inner integrity to outward rightness, so both kinds of merit are ruled out together.

1 Kings · 1

1 Kings 9:4 וּבְיֹ֔שֶׁר and in uprightness

And as for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, with a heart of integrity and uprightness, doing all I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and ordinances,

Here: 'And in straightness': the image of a path or line that does not bend. Paired with tom, it gives inner wholeness and outward straight conduct.

1 Chronicles · 1

1 Chronicles 29:17 בְּיֹ֤שֶׁר in [the] uprightness of

I know, my God, that You test the heart and delight in uprightness. All these things I have given willingly and with an upright heart, and now I have seen Your people who are present here giving joyfully and willingly to You.

Here: "In the straightness of": the same root as meisharim, deliberately picked up again. David claims the very quality God tests for.

Job · 3

Job 6:25 יֹ֑שֶׁר uprightness

How painful are honest words! But what does your argument prove?
Job 33:3 יֹֽשֶׁר־ [are] [the] uprightness of

My words are from an upright heart, and my lips speak sincerely what I know.
Job 33:23 יָשְׁרֽוֹ׃ uprightness his

Yet if there is a messenger on his side, one mediator in a thousand, to tell a man what is right for him,

Here: 'His straightness or uprightness.' It is unclear whose uprightness is meant and in what sense. It may be what is right for the man to do (his duty, the right path), the man's own integrity (vouched for by the advocate), or God's rightness. Verse 27 points to the first: the restored man confesses, 'I sinned and perverted what was right (yāšār).'

Psalms · 2

Psalm 25:21 וָיֹ֥שֶׁר and uprightness

May integrity and uprightness preserve me, because I wait for You.

Here: Straightness: conduct that goes straight along the right road without bending or crookedness. It pairs with tom to make one picture of a whole and straight life, and it echoes verse 8, where YHWH himself is "upright" (yashar).
Psalm 119:7 בְּיֹ֣שֶׁר in uprightness of

I will praise You with an upright heart when I learn Your righteous judgments.

Here: "With / in straightness of …" A heart with no crookedness in it: honest, level, not two-faced. This is the attitude the thanks will be given in.

Proverbs · 5

Proverbs 2:13 יֹ֑שֶׁר uprightness

from those who leave the straight paths to walk in the ways of darkness,

Here: Literally "straightness": a level, direct road with no twists. The moral sense (honest, right conduct) grows straight out of the road picture, and it sets up the contrast with the "twisted" speech and doings of verses 12 and 14.
Proverbs 4:11 יֹֽשֶׁר׃ uprightness

I will guide you in the way of wisdom; I will lead you on straight paths.

Here: A noun of quality: what is straight, level and even, and in a moral sense what is upright and honest. 'Tracks of uprightness' are paths that are physically even, with no obstacle to trip on (v. 12 follows: 'you will not stumble'), and morally right. Both senses are meant together.
Proverbs 11:24 מִ֝יֹּ֗שֶׁר from uprightness

One gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds what is right, only to become poor.

Here: With the prefix 'from/than'. It is either 'holds back more than is right' (excessive tight-fistedness) or 'holds back from what is right' (withholding what he owes or ought to give). Either way the holding back crosses a moral line. It is not ordinary prudence.
Proverbs 14:2 בְּ֭יָשְׁרוֹ in uprightness his

He who walks in uprightness fears the LORD, but the one who is devious in his ways despises Him.
Proverbs 17:26 יֹֽשֶׁר׃ uprightness

It is surely not good to punish the innocent or to flog a noble for his honesty.

Here: Literally 'straightness'. It means either the nobles' own upright conduct or the standard of what is right and proper. The verse lands on this word: punishment that should follow wrongdoing has been aimed at rightness.

Ecclesiastes · 1

Ecclesiastes 12:10 יֹ֖שֶׁר uprightness

The Teacher searched to find delightful sayings and to record accurate words of truth.

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