sa.mal denotes moving or turning toward the left, often set against movement toward the right.

The attested use consistently concerns movement, turning, or orientation toward the left, usually in an explicit contrast with the right: a proposed choice of direction, skill in both directions, refusal to deviate either way, or guidance when turning either way.

1. Moving or turning toward the left · dominant

   In Genesis 13:9, the cohortative form occurs in a proposal to separate, where the APB renders the alternative, “I will go to the left.” In 1 Chronicles 12:2, the masculine plural participle describes bow handlers able to go “right and to go left”; 2 Samuel 14:19 and Isaiah 30:21 likewise place the action in a right-and-left contrast. Ezekiel 21:21 uses a feminine singular imperative at a fork of two ways, though the APB does not isolate its specific directional contribution.

   Genesis 13:91 Chronicles 12:22 Samuel 14:19Isaiah 30:21Ezekiel 21:21

In the Anselm Project Bible: Where the directional contrast is explicit, the APB uses “left” or “to the left,” alongside “right.” In Ezekiel 21:21, the translation describes the king at a fork of two ways without making the imperative's directional wording explicit.