and when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way. Walk in it.”
Parallel translations
- KJV And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
- BSB And whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.”
- NKJV Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left.
- NASB Your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.
- NLT Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left.
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
Whichever way they turn, they will hear a voice behind them saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.' It matters because God promises clear, present guidance for the obedient.
Overview
This beloved verse pictures God's people hearing His directing voice at every turn, keeping them on the right path. It assures believers of God's faithful guidance when they incline to listen. The promise finds fuller expression in the good Shepherd whose sheep hear His voice, and in the Spirit who leads God's children in the way.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Ps 32:8I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go. I will counsel you with my eye on you.
- Prov 3:5–6Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding.
- Isa 58:11and Yahweh will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in dry places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters don’t fail.
- Isa 42:16I will bring the blind by a way that they don’t know. I will lead them in paths that they don’t know. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. I will do these things, and I will not forsake them.
- Deut 5:32You 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.
- Isa 35:8–9A highway will be there, a road, and it will be called The Holy Way. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it will be for those who walk in the Way. Wicked fools will not go there.
- Ps 143:8–10Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning, for I trust in you. Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to you.
- Jer 6:16Yahweh says, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, ‘Where is the good way?’ and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
- Isa 48:17Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: “I am Yahweh your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go.
- 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.
- Ps 25:8–9Good and upright is Yahweh, therefore he will instruct sinners in the way.
- Prov 4:27Don’t turn to the right hand nor to the left. Remove your foot from evil.
- Isa 29:24They also who err in spirit will come to understanding, and those who grumble will receive instruction.”
- 2 Kgs 22:2He did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes, and walked in all the way of David his father, and didn’t turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
- 1 Jn 2:27As for you, the anointing which you received from him remains in you, and you don’t need for anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie, and even as it taught you, you will remain in him.
- 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;
- 1 Jn 2:20You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 30:21 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.