1 Samuel 12:21
in 1 Samuel 12Do not turn aside after worthless things that cannot profit you or deliver you, for they are empty.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
and turn ye not aside; for then would ye go after vain things which cannot profit nor deliver, for they are vain.
KJV
And turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain.
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This verse in 1 Samuel 12
Commentary
8 notes on this verseThis the prophet of the Lord, Samuel, also openly suggests when he adds: "And do not turn aside after vain things, which will not profit you, nor deliver you, because they are vain." 13. Literally, he calls vain things the images of demons. But for us, those vain things are to be understood here as what the preacher shows, saying: Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity. For in comparison with eternal goods, all things are vain, even temporal goods.
This site's exposition
Do not be afraid
on 1 Samuel 12:20-21
Samuel answers a terrified people with "Do not be afraid" and a call to keep serving the LORD with all their heart, the king notwithstanding. The word for the "worthless things" shares its root with the formless waste of Genesis 1:2, so idols are named by a word for emptiness.
This site's exposition
worthless things that cannot profit you
John Wesley notes idols bear the same name at Deuteronomy 32:21 and Jeremiah 2:5, and Israel went after them again despite this warning. Gregory the Dialogist widened the word to every passing good set beside eternal ones, reading Samuel with Ecclesiastes 1:2. Gregory kept the literal sense as idols first.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Turn aside-After idols; as they had often done before; and, notwithstanding this warning, did afterwards. Vain things - So idols are called, Deut. xxxii, 21 Jer. ii, 5, and so they are, being mere nothings, having no power in them; no influence upon us, nor use or benefit to us.
4 And they said, Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken ought of any man's hand. 5 And he said unto them, The L ORD is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that ye have not found ought in my hand. And they answered, He is witness.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:96%@v4-5
And turn ye not aside,.... From his worship: for then; if they turned aside from that: should ye go after vain things; idols, which are vanity, and less than vanity: which cannot profit nor deliver; neither bestow good things on their votaries, nor deliver them from evils, or from the hands of their enemies for they are vain; empty, useless, and unprofitable; an idol is nothing in the world, 1Co 8:4.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
After vain things - That is, idols; which he calls here התהו hattohu, the same expression found Gen 1:2. The earth was תהו tohu; it was waste, empty, and formless: so idols; they are confusion, and things of naught, for an idol is nothing in the world, it is not the representative of any intelligent being.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Is it not wheat harvest to-day?--That season in Palestine occurs at the end of June or beginning of July, when it seldom or never rains, and the sky is serene and cloudless.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְלֹ֖א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תָּס֑וּרוּ | tasuru | you must turn aside | H5493 → | 299 times |
| כִּ֣י׀ | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אַחֲרֵ֣י | ʾacharei | after | H310 → | 715 times |
| הַתֹּ֗הוּ | hatohu | <the> emptiness | H8414 → | |
| אֲשֶׁ֧ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| לֹֽא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יוֹעִ֛ילוּ | yoilu | they will benefit | H3276 → | |
| וְלֹ֥א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יַצִּ֖ילוּ | yatzilu | they will rescue | H5337 → | 212 times |
| כִּי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| תֹ֥הוּ | tohu | [are] emptiness | H8414 → | |
| הֵֽמָּה׃ | hemah | they | H1992 → | 553 times |
וְלֹ֖אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
תָּס֑וּרוּyou must turn aside
tasuruH5493 →299 times
כִּ֣י׀for
kiH3588 →4482 times
אַחֲרֵ֣יafter
ʾachareiH310 →715 times
הַתֹּ֗הוּ<the> emptiness
hatohuH8414 →
אֲשֶׁ֧רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
לֹֽא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
יוֹעִ֛ילוּthey will benefit
yoiluH3276 →
וְלֹ֥אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
יַצִּ֖ילוּthey will rescue
yatziluH5337 →212 times
כִּי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
תֹ֥הוּ[are] emptiness
tohuH8414 →
הֵֽמָּה׃they
hemahH1992 →553 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 14:22Can the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies alone send showers? Is this not by You, O LORD our God? So we put our hope in You, for You have…
it leads to
- Joel 2:23
Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God, for He has given you the autumn rains for your vindication. He sends you showers, both autumn and spring rains, as…
- Jeremiah 5:24
They have not said in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rains, both autumn and spring, in season, who keeps for us the appointed weeks of harvest.’
- Psalms 135:7
He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He generates the lightning with the rain and brings forth the wind from His storehouses.
- Isaiah 30:23
Then He will send rain for the seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food that comes from your land will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will…
- Joel 2:23
Through
Habakkuk 2:18What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 10:8
But they are altogether senseless and foolish, instructed by worthless idols made of wood!
- 1 Corinthians 12:2
You know that when you were pagans, you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.
- Zechariah 10:2
For idols speak deceit and diviners see illusions; they tell false dreams and offer empty comfort. Therefore the people wander like sheep, oppressed for lack of a shepherd.
- Jeremiah 10:8
Through
Jeremiah 16:19O LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of distress, the nations will come to You from the ends of the earth, and they will say, “Our fathers inherited nothing…
it leads to
- Isaiah 25:4
For You have been a refuge for the poor, a stronghold for the needy in distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like…
- Isaiah 25:4
Where this verse is studied
About 1 Samuel
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Gregory the Dialogist, Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 2; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.