Meaning
Right rit (yashar, mishpaT; dikaios, euthus): Many Hebrew words are translated "right," with different shades of meaning. Of these the two noted are the most important: yashar, with the sense of being straight, direct, as "right in the sight" of Yahweh (Exo 15:26, Deu 12:25, etc.), in one's own eyes (Jud 17:6), "right words" (Job 6:25 the King James Version, yosher), "right paths" (Pr 4:11 the King James Version); and mishpaT "judgment" "cause" etc., a forensic term, as "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Ge 18:25). In Job 34:17, the Revised Version (British and American) has "justice" (34:6, "right"), etc. The word tsedheq, tsedhaqah, ordinarily translated "righteousness," are in a few cases rendered "right" (2Sa 19:28, Neh 2:20, Psa 9:4, Psa 17:1, Psa 119:75, Eze 18:5, etc.). In the New Testament the chief word is dikaios, primarily "even," "equal" (Mat 20:4, Luk 12:57, etc.); more generally the word is rendered "just" and "righteous." Euthus, used by Septuagint for yashar (1Sa 12:23, Hos 14:9), occurs a few times (Act 8:21, Act 13:10, 2Pe 2:15); so orthos, "straight," "upright" (Lu 10:28). "Right-hand" or "side" represents Hebrew yamin and kindred forms (Gen 48:13, Gen 48:14, Gen 48:17, Exo 15:6, etc.); the Greek, in this sense, is dexios (Mat 6:3, Mat 20:21, etc.).
Revised Version, among other changes, has "right" for the King James Version "judgment" in Job 27:2, Job 34:5, and for "right" in the King James Version substitutes "straight" in Ezr 8:21, "skillful" in Ec 4:4, margin "successful," etc. In Joh 1:12 the Revised Version (British and American) reads, "the right to become children of God" for the King James Version "the power" (exousia); in Mat 20:7, Mat 20:15 "right" is omitted, with the larger part of the verse. In 2Ti 2:15 "rightly dividing" (orthotomeo) is changed to "handling aright" with margin "holding a straight course in the word of truth. Or, rightly dividing the word of truth."
W. L. Walker
