ya.shar describes what is right in someone’s eyes and what is made straight, smooth, or direct in movement and paths.

The most visible use describes a matter, person, or choice as right or pleasing in someone’s eyes; elsewhere the verb marks straight movement and the making of ways, paths, objects, speech, or other things smooth or straight.

1. Right or pleasing in someone’s judgment · dominant

   Qal forms occur where a matter or choice is assessed in relation to someone’s eyes: in 1 Samuel 18:20 the APB renders the matter as “right in his eyes,” and in 2 Samuel 17:4 the plan “seemed good” to Absalom and Israel’s elders. In Judges 14:3 and Judges 14:7, the woman is described as right in Samson’s eyes, while Jeremiah 18:4 places the potter’s remaking of the vessel under what seemed good to him.

   1 Samuel 18:201 Samuel 18:262 Samuel 17:4Judges 14:3Judges 14:7Jeremiah 18:4
2. Making a way or path straight and smooth · common

   Piel and Hiphil forms describe acting on routes or directions. In Isaiah 40:3 the imperative stands in the command to “smooth in the Arabah a highway,” and in Proverbs 3:6 the APB renders the resulting action as making paths straight. Proverbs 11:5 and Proverbs 15:21 similarly place the action on a path or walk.

   Isaiah 40:3Isaiah 45:2Isaiah 45:13Proverbs 3:6Proverbs 11:5Proverbs 15:21
3. Going or being directed straight ahead · occasional

   The Qal form in 1 Samuel 6:12 describes the heifers proceeding on one highway without turning right or left. In Proverbs 4:25, a Hiphil jussive occurs in the instruction that the eyes look “straight ahead” and the eyelids be directed forward; Job 37:3 likewise places the imperfect in the sending of lightning across the earth.

   1 Samuel 6:12Proverbs 4:25Job 37:3
4. Straight or smooth condition beyond a roadway · occasional

   Other clauses apply the term outside literal travel. In 1 Kings 6:35, the passive participle occurs with gold described by the APB as “smoothed”; in Psalm 5:9, a Hiphil imperative appears in the clause about smoothing the tongue. Habakkuk 2:4 contrasts a swollen soul with one the APB calls “upright,” and Psalm 119:128 joins making precepts straight with rejecting a deceptive way.

   1 Kings 6:35Psalm 5:9Habakkuk 2:4Psalm 119:128Proverbs 9:15

In the Anselm Project Bible: Across these verses, the APB variously presents the relevant clauses with “right,” “pleasing,” “straight,” “smooth,” “directed,” and “upright.” Because it is a whole-verse translation, these renderings confirm the clauses’ contexts but do not establish a separate sense solely by their English variation.