Proverbs 4:27
in Proverbs 4Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your feet away from evil.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: Remove thy foot from evil.
KJV
Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.
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This verse in Proverbs 4
Commentary
13 notes on this verseWe must really walk on the King's highway and take care not to turn aside from it either to the right hand or to the left, as the Proverbs say. For such is the case with our passions, and such in this matter is the task of the good shepherd, if he is to know properly the souls of his flock, and to guide them according to the methods of a pastoral care which is right and just, and worthy of our true Shepherd.
This site's exposition
Put away deception from your mouth
on Proverbs 4:24-27
The instruction narrows from the heart to the body, mouth, eyes and feet, each told to hold a straight course. “Let your eyes look forward” pictures a traveler who keeps from glancing aside at every distraction. “Make a level path for your feet” asks for weighed, deliberate steps.
This site's exposition
Do not swerve to the right or to the left
Gregory of Nazianzus calls the straight course the King's highway, kept without turning to the right or the left. Israel promised Edom at Numbers 20:17 to keep to that road, and Moses gives the same charge at Deuteronomy 5:32. The feet stay on the way, and evil lies off it.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
And so one who wishes to go along the King's highway by means of the "arms of righteousness which are on the right hand and on the left" ought by the teaching of the apostle to pass through "honor and dishonor, evil report and good report." And with such care [such a person ought] to direct his virtuous course amid the swelling waves of temptation, with discretion at the helm and the Spirit of the Lord breathing on us, since we know that if we deviate ever so little to the right hand or to the left, we shall presently be dashed against most dangerous crags. And so we are warned by Solomon, the wisest of men: "Turn not aside to the right hand or to the left." That is, do not flatter yourself on your virtues and be puffed up by your spiritual achievements on the right hand; nor, swerving to the path of vices on the left hand, seek from them for yourself (to use the words of the apostle) so as to "glory in your shame."
Virtue occupies the middle position; whence also he says, that manly courage is the mean between boldness and cowardice. And now he mentions the "right," not meaning thereby things which are right by nature, such as the virtues, but things which seem to thee to be right on account of their pleasures. Now pleasures are not simply sensual enjoyments, but also riches and luxury. And the "left" indicates envy, robberies, and the like. For "Boreas," says he, "is a bitter wind, and yet is called by name right." For, symbolically, under Boreas he designates the wicked devil by whom every flame of evil is kindled in the earth. And this has the name "right," because an angel is called by a right (propitious) name. Do thou, says he, turn aside from evil, and God will take care of thine end; for He will go before thee, scattering thine enemies, that thou mayest go in peace.
Mark well the counsel which the Holy Spirit gives us by Solomon: "Make straight paths for your feet, and order your ways aright. Turn not aside to the right hand nor to the left, but turn away your foot from the evil way; for the Lord knows the ways on the right hand, but those on the left are perverse. He will make your ways straight, and will direct your steps in peace." Now consider, my brothers, that in these words of holy Scripture, if there were no free will, it would not be said, "Make straight paths for your feet, and order your ways; turn not aside to the right hand, nor to the left." Nor yet, were this possible for us to achieve without the grace of God, would it be afterwards added, "He will make your ways straight and will direct your steps in peace."
A commentator
Augustine of HippoON THE MERITS AND FORGIVENESS OF SIN AND ON INFANT BAPTISM 2:57 · Written before 430.
proposed
Let us hold fast, then, the confession of this faith, without faltering or failure. One alone is there who was born without sin, in the likeness of sinful flesh, who lived without sin amid the sins of others, and who died without sin on account of our sins. "Let us turn neither to the right hand nor to the left." For to turn to the right hand is to deceive oneself, by saying that we are without sin; and to turn to the left is to surrender oneself to one's sins with a sort of impunity, in I know not how perverse and depraved a recklessness.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Do not turn to the right or to the left. The right way is taken as good, the left as reprobate. Therefore, we are forbidden to turn to the right way, but not to decline to the right. One turns to the left who is …
5 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church1 voice
Keep your foot from evil. This means do not deviate from the right, either to this side or that, because virtues seek discernment, and all excess is in vice. For the ways which are to the right, the Lord knows. That is, He has chosen, …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
7 Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. 8 Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her. 9 She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
Turn not to the right hand nor to the left,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The ever-recurring image of the straight road on which no one ever loses his way represents here as elsewhere the onward course through life of the man who seeks and finds wisdom.
Turn not to the right hand nor to the left - Avoid all crooked ways. Be an upright, downright, and straight-forward man. Avoid tricks, wiles, and deceptions of this kind. To this the Septuagint and Vulgate add the following verse: Αυτος δε ορθας ποιησει τας τροχιας σου, τας δε πορειας σου εν ειρηνη προαξει. Ipse autem rectos faciet cursus tuos; itinera autem tua in pace producet. “For himself will make thy paths straight and thy journeyings will he conduct in prosperity.” The Arabic has also a clause to the same effect. But nothing like this is found in the Hebrew, Chaldee, or Syriac; nor in the Vulgate, as printed in the Complutensian Polyglot; nor in that of Antwerp or of Paris; but it is in the Greek text of those editions, in the editio princeps of the Vulgate, in five of my own MSS., and in the old MS. Bible. De Lyra rejects the clause as a gloss that stands on no authority. If an addition, it is certainly very ancient; and the promise it contains is true whether the clause be authentic or not.
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַֽל־ | ʾal- | may not | H408 → | 724 times |
| תֵּט־ | tet- | you turn aside | H5186 → | 214 times |
| יָמִ֥ין | yamin | right | H3225 → | 140 times |
| וּשְׂמֹ֑אול | usemol | and left | H8040 → | |
| הָסֵ֖ר | haser | turn aside | H5493 → | 299 times |
| רַגְלְךָ֣ | raglekha | foot your | H7272 → | 247 times |
| מֵרָֽע׃ | mera' | from evil | H7451 → | 662 times |
אַֽל־may not
ʾal-H408 →724 times
תֵּט־you turn aside
tet-H5186 →214 times
יָמִ֥יןright
yaminH3225 →140 times
וּשְׂמֹ֑אולand left
usemolH8040 →
הָסֵ֖רturn aside
haserH5493 →299 times
רַגְלְךָ֣foot your
raglekhaH7272 →247 times
מֵרָֽע׃from evil
mera'H7451 →662 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
Joshua 1:7Above all, be strong and very courageous. Be careful to observe all the law that My servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 5:32
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.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Chronicles 22:13
Then you will succeed, if you carefully follow the statutes and ordinances that the LORD commanded Moses for Israel. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged.
- Joshua 1:8
This Book of the Law must not depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. For then you will prosper…
- Joshua 11:15
As the LORD had commanded His servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua. That is what Joshua did, leaving nothing undone of all that the LORD had commanded Moses.
- Deuteronomy 12:32
See that you do everything I command you; do not add to it or subtract from it.
- Deuteronomy 5:32
Through
Deuteronomy 12:32See that you do everything I command you; do not add to it or subtract from it.
it leads to
- Joshua 1:7
Above all, be strong and very courageous. Be careful to observe all the law that My servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 4:2
You must not add to or subtract from what I command you, so that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I am giving you.
- Revelation 22:18–19
I testify to everyone who hears the words of prophecy in this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.
- Joshua 1:7
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Proverbs
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, LETTER 215:5; Augustine of Hippo, ON THE MERITS AND FORGIVENESS OF SIN AND ON INFANT BAPTISM 2:57; Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Gregory of Nazianzus, IN DEFENSE OF HIS FLIGHT, ORATION 2:34; Hippolytus of Rome, Hippolytus Exegetical Fragments; John Cassian, INSTITUTES 11:4; 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.