What is "jeshurun"

Jeshurun , or Yeshurun, is a poetic name for Israel used in the Hebrew Bible. It is generally thought to be derived from a root word meaning upright, just or straight, but may have been derived from שׁור, shur, to see, or may be a diminutive form of the word Israel.

Jeshurun appears four times in the Hebrew Bible: three times in Deuteronomy and once in Isaiah. It can refer to the people of Israel ( 33:26), the Land of Israel , or the Patriarch Jacob (whom an Angel renamed Israel in ):

• 'But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; you grew fat, you grew thick'.
• ' Moses commanded a law for us, a heritage of the congregation of Jacob. He was King in Jeshurun, when the leaders of the people were gathered, all the tribes of Israel together'.
• 'There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to help you'.
• ‘Fear not, O Jacob My servant, and thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen'. .

The word Jeshurun may have a relationship to the same root as the Hebrew word “upright,” “yesharim”. Numbers appears to use the word “upright,” “yesharim,” as a play on the word “Jeshurun” to refer to the people of Israel. . refers to a Book of Jasher (or Book of Jashar), translated in some versions as "the Book of the Upright".