Deuteronomy 5:32
Context5:32 Be careful, therefore, to do exactly what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn right or left!
Joshua 1:7
Context1:7 Make sure you are 1 very strong and brave! Carefully obey 2 all the law my servant Moses charged you to keep! 3 Do not swerve from it to the right or to the left, so that you may be successful 4 in all you do. 5
Proverbs 4:27
Context4:27 Do not turn 6 to the right or to the left;
turn yourself 7 away from evil. 8
Ezekiel 18:14-17
Context18:14 “But suppose he in turn has a son who notices all the sins his father commits, considers them, and does not follow his father’s example. 9 18:15 He does not eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains, does not pray to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife, 18:16 does not oppress anyone or keep what has been given in pledge, does not commit robbery, gives his food to the hungry, and clothes the naked, 18:17 refrains from wrongdoing, 10 does not engage in usury or charge interest, carries out my regulations and follows my statutes. He will not die for his father’s iniquity; 11 he will surely live.
[1:7] 2 tn Heb “so you can be careful to do.” The use of the infinitive לִשְׁמֹר (lishmor, “to keep”) after the imperatives suggests that strength and bravery will be necessary for obedience. Another option is to take the form לִשְׁמֹר as a vocative lamed (ל) with imperative (see Isa 38:20 for an example of this construction), which could be translated, “Indeed, be careful!”
[1:7] 3 tn Heb “commanded you.”
[1:7] 4 tn Heb “be wise,” but the word can mean “be successful” by metonymy.
[1:7] 5 tn Heb “in all which you go.”
[4:27] 6 sn The two verbs in this verse are from different roots, but nonetheless share the same semantic domain. The first verb is תֵּט (tet), a jussive from נָטָה (natah), which means “to turn aside” (Hiphil); the second verb is the Hiphil imperative of סוּר (sur), which means “to cause to turn to the side” (Hiphil). The disciple is not to leave the path of righteousness; but to stay on the path he must leave evil.
[4:27] 7 tn Heb “your foot” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV). The term רַגְלְךָ (raglÿkha, “your foot”) is a synecdoche of part (= foot) for the whole person (= “yourself”).
[4:27] 8 tc The LXX adds, “For the way of the right hand God knows, but those of the left hand are distorted; and he himself will make straight your paths and guide your goings in peace.” The ideas presented here are not out of harmony with Proverbs, but the section clearly shows an expansion by the translator. For a brief discussion of whether this addition is Jewish or early Christian, see C. H. Toy, Proverbs (ICC), 99.
[18:14] 9 tn Heb “and he sees and does not do likewise.”
[18:17] 10 tc This translation follows the LXX. The MT reads “restrains his hand from the poor,” which makes no sense here.
[18:17] 11 tn Or “in his father’s punishment.” The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity/punishment” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here and in vv. 18, 19, 20; 3:18, 19; 4:17; 7:13, 16; 24:23; 33:6, 8, 9; 39:23. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment for iniquity.”