Deuteronomy 5:32

5:32 Be careful, therefore, to do exactly what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn right or left!

Deuteronomy 17:11

17:11 You must do what you are instructed, and the verdict they pronounce to you, without fail. Do not deviate right or left from what they tell you.

Deuteronomy 17:20

17:20 Then he will not exalt himself above his fellow citizens or turn from the commandments to the right or left, and he and his descendants will enjoy many years ruling over his kingdom ¹  in Israel.

Deuteronomy 28:14

28:14 But you must not turn away from all the commandments I am giving ²  you today, to either the right or left, nor pursue other gods and worship ³  them.

Joshua 1:7

1:7 Make sure you are ⁴  very strong and brave! Carefully obey ⁵  all the law my servant Moses charged you to keep! ⁶  Do not swerve from it to the right or to the left, so that you may be successful ⁷  in all you do. ⁸ 

Joshua 23:6

23:6 Be very strong! Carefully obey ⁹  all that is written in the law scroll of Moses so you won’t swerve from it to the right or the left,

Proverbs 4:27

4:27 Do not turn ¹⁰  to the right or to the left;

turn yourself ¹¹  away from evil. ¹² 

[17:20]  ¹ tc Heb “upon his kingship.” Smr supplies כִּסֵא (kise’, “throne”) so as to read “upon the throne of his kingship.” This overliteralizes what is a clearly understood figure of speech.

[28:14]  ² tn Heb “from all the words which I am commanding.”

[28:14]  ³ tn Heb “in order to serve.”

[1:7]  ⁴ tn Or “Only be.”

[1:7]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “commanded you.”

[1:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “be wise,” but the word can mean “be successful” by metonymy.

[1:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “in all which you go.”

[23:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “Be strong so you can be careful to do.”

[4:27]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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.