Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t turn to the right hand nor to the left. Remove your foot from evil.
- BSB Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your feet away from evil.
- NKJV Do not turn to the right or the left; Remove your foot from evil.
- NASB Do not turn to the right or to the left; Turn your foot from evil.
- NLT Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.
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
Do not turn aside to right or left, but keep your foot from evil. Wisdom holds a straight course away from sin.
Overview
Closing the appeal, the father warns against deviating in any direction from the right path and commands removing one's foot from evil. The straight way admits no swerving toward sin. This echoes the covenant charge not to turn from God's commands to the right or the left (Deut 5:32; Josh 1:7).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Deut 5:32Ye 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.
- Josh 1:7Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.
- Deut 28:14And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
- Prov 16:17The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul.
- Deut 12:32What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.
- Rom 12:9Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
- Isa 1:16Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 4:27 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.