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Bible Encyclopedias
Jeshurun
The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia
Poetical name for Israel, occurring four times in the Bible (Deuteronomy 32:15, 33:5,26; Isaiah 44:2; in the last-cited place the A. V. has "Jesurun"). All the commentators agree in applying this term to Israel. The Peshiá¹ta and the Targumim render it by "Israel"; only the Targum Yerushalmi has in the first instance "Jeshurun." The Septuagint invariably renders the word by ἠγαÏήμενοÏ, and Jerome once by "dilectus," probably taking as a diminutive of endearment. But in three other places Jerome renders it by "rectissimus," in which he seems to have followed the opinion of Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion (comp. Jerome on Isaiah 44:2). Thus they derive this word from = "to be upright"; and the same etymology is given by Ḳimḥi and Ibn Ezra. Obadiah Sforno derives it from = "to behold," meaning a clear-sighted people.
Some modern scholars accept the etymology from , the word being formed similarly to "Zebulun," from "zabal" (see W. Stärk, "Studien zur Religions- und Sprachgeschichte des Alt. Test." part , p. 74, Berlin, 1899; see also Duhm, "Das Buch Jesaiah," p. 304, Göttingen, 1892; Hummelauer, "Deuteronomium," 1901, p. 522; W. Bacher, "Jeschurun," in Stade's "Zeitschrift," 5:161 et seq.).
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Singer, Isidore, Ph.D, Projector and Managing Editor. Entry for 'Jeshurun'. 1901 The Jewish Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/​encyclopedias/​eng/​tje/​j/jeshurun.html. 1901.