names of Yaakov

לַאֲשֶׁר יָשַׁר בְּעֵינָי (Yirmiyahu 27:5), to whom it was right in My eyes; כַּאֲשֶׁר יָשַׁר בְּעֵינֵי הַיּוֹצֵר (Yirmiyahu 18:4), as it was right in the potter's eyes; כִּי־הִיא יָשְׁרָה בְעֵינָי (Shoftim 14:3), for she is right in my eyes. And of going straight on, וַיִּשַּׁרְנָה הַפָּרוֹת (Shmuel I 6:12), the cows went straight.

On וַיִּרְדּוּ בָם יְשָׁרִים לַבֹּקֶר (Tehillim 49:15), the upright shall rule over them in the morning: the upright have rule and greatness over the foolish rich who love this world, of whom it says נִמְשַׁל כַּבְּהֵמוֹת נִדְמוּ (Tehillim 49:13), he is likened to the beasts that perish. In this world the fools rule the upright, as עָשִׁיר בְּרָשִׁים יִמְשׁוֹל (Mishlei 22:7), the rich rules over the poor; in the World to Come the upright are the rulers, and that is morning for them and evening for the rich. The rich wear away in Sheol when they die and leave the dwelling they had; the upright do not, for though the bodily form decays, the form of their soul stands forever.

The noun: יֹֽשֶׁר ־לִבִּי אֲמָרָי (Iyov 33:3), my words are the uprightness of my heart. Another form is וְדֹבֵר יְשָׁרִים יֶאֱהָֽב (Mishlei 16:13), he loves one who speaks upright things; it may be formed from the noun in ישר לבי, the uprightness of my heart, with a sheva alone in place of the chataf kamatz that is its rule, to lighten a word heavy to say, as בְּקָרִים, mornings, comes from בֹּקֶר, morning. And another form, וּבְיִשְׁרַת לֵבָב (Melachim I 3:6), and in uprightness of heart.

וְהָיָה הֶֽעָקֹב לְמִישׁוֹר (Yeshayahu 40:4), the crooked shall become level ground. הוֹלֵךְ לְדוֹדִי לְמֵישָׁרִים (Shir HaShirim 7:10), going to my beloved in straightness, because good wine goes straight and is very pleasant to a man; and so יִתְהַלֵּךְ בְּמֵישָׁרִֽים (Mishlei 23:31), it goes along in straightness.

Where the verb takes an object it makes straight: יַשְּׁרוּ בָּֽעֲרָבָה מְסִלָּה (Yeshayahu 40:3), make a highway straight in the plain; הַֽמְיַשְּׁרִים אֹֽרְחוֹתָֽם (Mishlei 9:15), those who make their paths straight. In another heavy form, with the first root letter sounded against the usual way, וְעַפְעַפֶּיךָ יַיְשִׁרוּ נֶגְדֶּֽךָ (Mishlei 4:25), let your eyelids look straight before you.

עָקֹב הַלֵּב מִכֹּל (Yirmiyahu 17:9), the heart is deceitful above all; כָל־אָח עָקוֹב יַעְקֹב (Yirmiyahu 9:3), every brother deals deceitfully; וַֽיַּעְקְבֵנִי זֶה פַֽעֲמַיִם (Bereishis 27:36), he has deceived me these two times; and the noun, וְיֵהוּא עָשָׂה בְעָקְבָּה (Melachim II 10:19), and Yehu acted with cunning. The sense of them all is trickery and cunning. Beside these, וְהָיָה הֶֽעָקֹב לְמִישׁוֹר (Yeshayahu 40:4), and the crooked shall become level, the crooked being the winding road that is hard to climb.

The feminine adjective is עֲקֻבָּה מִדָּֽם (Hoshea 6:8), cunning with blood, and so Chazal explain it: שהיו עוקבין להרוג נפשות (Makkos 10a), that they were עוקבין to take lives, which Radak explains as acting craftily. In another place they explain עקבה as מלוכלכת, soiled: Yerushalmi Avodah Zarah 5:7 rules אם יש בו עקבת יין אסור, if there is עקבת יין on it, it is forbidden, and asks what עקבת יין is; the answer is דההוא דמלכלך, that which soils, as it is written עֲקֻבָּה מִדָּֽם, soiled with blood.

וְיָדוֹ אֹחֶזֶת בַּֽעֲקֵב עֵשָׂו (Bereishis 25:26), and his hand holding Esav's heel; וְאַתָּה תְּשׁוּפֶנּוּ עָקֵֽב (Bereishis 3:15), and you will bruise his heel; הִגְדִּיל עָלַי עָקֵֽב (Tehillim 41:10), he has made his heel great over me, as though I were under his foot; and the verb from this, בַּבֶּטֶן עָקַב (Hoshea 12:4), in the womb he took hold of his heel. In the plural the word is goings: צְֽאִי־לָךְ בְּעִקְבֵי הַצֹּאן (Shir HaShirim 1:8), go out in the goings of the flock, and וְעִקְּבוֹתֶיךָ לֹא נֹדָֽעוּ (Tehillim 77:20), and Your goings were not known, meaning the place of Your goings.

From the heel comes the end, since the heel is the end of the body: נָטִיתִי לִבִּי לַֽעֲשׂוֹת חֻקֶּיךָ לְעוֹלָם עֵֽקֶב (Tehillim 119:112), I have inclined my heart to do Your statutes forever, to the end of the world; וְאֶצְּרֶנָּה עֵֽקֶב (Tehillim 119:33), and I will keep it to the end of the world, meaning all the days of my life; וְהוּא יָגֻד עָקֵֽב (Bereishis 49:19), and he will raid at the end. From it too comes the verb וְלֹא יְעַקְּבֵם כִּֽי־יִשָּׁמַע קוֹלֽוֹ (Iyov 37:4), and He does not delay them when His voice is heard: He does not put them off to the end, but brings the thunder straight after the lightning.

Reward too is called עקב, since reward is the end of the deed: וְהָיָה עֵקֶב תִּשְׁמְעוּן (Devarim 7:12), in reward for your listening; יָשׁוּבוּ עַל־ עֵקֶב בָּשְׁתָּם (Tehillim 70:4), in reward of their shame they will turn back; בְּשָׁמְרָם עֵקֶב רָֽב (Tehillim 19:12), in keeping them there is great reward; עֵקֶב אֲשֶׁר־שָׁמַע אַבְרָהָם (Bereishis 26:5), in reward for Avraham's listening; and עֵקֶב הָֽיְתָה רוּחַ אַחֶרֶת עִמּוֹ (Bamidbar 14:24), in reward for there being another spirit with him. In the same way reward is called אחרית, the end: כִּי אִם־יֵשׁ אַֽחֲרִית וְתִקְוָתְךָ לֹא תִכָּרֵֽת (Mishlei 23:18), for there is surely a reward, and your hope will not be cut off.

His father explains in the same way: לָמָּה אִירָא בִּימֵי רָע עֲוֹן עֲקֵבַי יְסוּבֵּֽנִי (Tehillim 49:6), why should I fear in the days of evil, when the reward of sin at my end surrounds me? In the days of punishment, the evil reward that is to be mine at my end surrounds me now; if so, why should I fear, since I am receiving the reward of my deeds now. עֲוֹן there is the reward of sin, as in כִּי לֹֽא־שָׁלֵם עֲוֹן הָֽאֱמֹרִי (Bereishis 15:16), for the reward of the Emori's sin is not yet complete. וְאֶת־ עֲקֵבוֹ מִיָּם לָעִיר (Yehoshua 8:13), and its heel west of the city, is read as its end; his father takes it from the sense of וַֽיַּעְקְבֵנִי, which the Targum renders וְחַכְּמַנִי, a word of ambush; on that reading, its ambush was west of the city. The Targum renders this pasuk the same way, וְיַת כְּמָנֵיהּ מַעֲרַב לְקַרְתָּא, and its ambush west of the city.

לִהְיוֹת כָּל־אִישׁ שׂרֵר בְּבֵיתוֹ (Esther 1:22), that every man be master in his own house, and the reflexive כִּֽי־ תִשְׂתָּרֵר עָלֵינוּ גַּם־ הִשְׂתָּרֵֽר (Bamidbar 16:13), that you make yourself a prince over us, a prince indeed. He allows that וַיָּשַׂר אֶל־מַלְאָךְ (Hoshea 12:5), and he was master over an angel, and בִּי שָׂרִים יָשׂרוּ (Mishlei 8:16), by me princes rule, may belong here, though he has already written of them under the root שֹוֹר; but וַיָּשַׂר בַּמְּגֵרָה (Divrei HaYamim I 20:3), and he sawed them with the saw, and אִם־יִתְגַּדֵּל הַמַּשּׂוֹר (Yeshayahu 10:15), shall the saw vaunt itself, he wrote under נָשַֹר, which he says is truly their root.

שָׁרְרֵךְ אַגַּן הַסַּהַר (Shir HaShirim 7:3), your navel a round goblet; לֹֽא־כָרַּת שָׁרֵךְ (Yechezkel 16:4), your navel was not cut, where the resh takes a dagesh in place of the doubling that is missing; and in another pattern בִּשְׁרִירֵי בִטְנֽוֹ (Iyov 40:16), in the navel of his belly, the word there being the navel.

כִּי בִּשְׁרִרוּת לִבִּי אֵלֵךְ (Devarim 29:18), for I will go in the looking of my heart, where the sense is the looking of my heart and my thoughts. With it go לְמַעַן שׁוֹרְרָי (Tehillim 5:9), because of those who watch me, and יָשֹׁר עַל־אֲנָשִׁים (Iyov 33:27), he looks upon men, though Radak has written those at the root שׁוּר as well, there being nothing to decide between the two roots. Some explain בִּשְׁרִרוּת as strength, from the sense of שריר וקים, valid and standing, in the words of Chazal (Bava Basra 102a).