You shall observe to do therefore as Yahweh your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
Parallel translations
- KJV Ye shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
- BSB So be careful to do as the LORD your God has commanded you; you are not to turn aside to the right or to the left.
- NKJV “Therefore you shall be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
- NASB So you shall be careful to do just as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left.
- NLT So Moses told the people, “You must be careful to obey all the commands of the Lord your God, following his instructions in every detail.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Israel must obey carefully, not turning aside to the right or left. Faithfulness means undeviating obedience to God's word.
Overview
Moses exhorts the people to do exactly as God commanded, without departing in any direction. Wholehearted, undivided obedience is the path of covenant faithfulness. This call to walk the straight way is perfectly kept by Christ and, by his Spirit, increasingly by those who follow him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Prov 4:27Don’t turn to the right hand nor to the left. Remove your foot from evil.
- Josh 23:6“Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that you not turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left;
- Josh 1:7Only be strong and very courageous. Be careful to observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded you. Don’t turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.
- Deut 17:20that his heart not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he not turn aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left; to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the middle of Israel.
- Deut 28:14and shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you today, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
- Deut 24:8Be careful in the plague of leprosy, that you observe diligently, and do according to all that the priests the Levites teach you. As I commanded them, so you shall observe to do.
- Deut 12:32Whatever thing I command you, that you shall observe to do. You shall not add to it, nor take away from it.
- Ezek 37:24My servant David shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my ordinances, and observe my statutes, and do them.
- Deut 11:32You shall observe to do all the statutes and the ordinances which I set before you today.
- Deut 8:1You shall observe to do all the commandments which I command you today, that you may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers.
- Deut 6:3Hear therefore, Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with you, and that you may increase mightily, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised to you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
- Deut 6:25It shall be righteousness to us, if we observe to do all this commandment before Yahweh our God, as he has commanded us.”
- 2 Pet 2:21For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.
- Deut 4:1–2Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and to the ordinances, which I teach you, to do them; that you may live, and go in and possess the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, gives you.
- Ps 125:5But as for those who turn aside to their crooked ways, Yahweh will lead them away with the workers of iniquity. Peace be on Israel.
- 2 Kgs 21:8I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander any more out of the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 5:32 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.