1 Samuel 12:21
New International Version
Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless.

New Living Translation
Don’t go back to worshiping worthless idols that cannot help or rescue you—they are totally useless!

English Standard Version
And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty.

Berean Standard Bible
Do not turn aside after worthless things that cannot profit you or deliver you, for they are empty.

King James Bible
And turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain.

New King James Version
And do not turn aside; for then you would go after empty things which cannot profit or deliver, for they are nothing.

New American Standard Bible
Indeed, you must not turn aside, for then you would go after useless things which cannot benefit or save, because they are useless.

NASB 1995
“You must not turn aside, for then you would go after futile things which can not profit or deliver, because they are futile.

NASB 1977
“And you must not turn aside, for then you would go after futile things which can not profit or deliver, because they are futile.

Legacy Standard Bible
And you must not turn aside, for then you would go after meaningless things which cannot profit and cannot deliver, because they are meaningless.

Amplified Bible
You must not turn away, for then you would go after futile things which cannot profit or rescue, because they are futile.

Christian Standard Bible
Don’t turn away to follow worthless things that can’t profit or rescue you; they are worthless.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Don’t turn away to follow worthless things that can’t profit or deliver you; they are worthless.

American Standard Version
and turn ye not aside; for then would ye go after vain things which cannot profit nor deliver, for they are vain.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And do not turn away after empty things, that you will not die, and they are not saving you because they are empty things

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And turn not aside after the gods that are nothing, who will do nothing, and will not deliver you, because they are nothing.

Contemporary English Version
Don't worship idols! They don't have any power, and they can't help you or save you when you're in trouble.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And turn not aside after vain things which shall never profit you, nor deliver you, because they are vain.

English Revised Version
and turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things which cannot profit nor deliver, for they are vain.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Don't turn away to follow other gods. They can't help or rescue you, because they don't exist.

Good News Translation
Don't go after false gods; they cannot help you or save you, for they are not real.

International Standard Version
Don't turn aside after useless things that cannot profit or deliver because they're useless.

JPS Tanakh 1917
and turn ye not aside; for then should ye go after vain things which cannot profit nor deliver, for they are vain.

Literal Standard Version
and you do not turn aside after the vain things which do not profit nor deliver, for they [are] vain,

Majority Standard Bible
Do not turn aside after worthless things that cannot profit you or deliver you, for they are empty.

New American Bible
Do not turn aside to gods who are nothing, who cannot act and deliver. They are nothing.

NET Bible
You should not turn aside after empty things that can't profit and can't deliver, since they are empty.

New Revised Standard Version
and do not turn aside after useless things that cannot profit or save, for they are useless.

New Heart English Bible
Do not turn aside to go after vain things which can't profit nor deliver, for they are vain.

Webster's Bible Translation
And turn ye not aside: for then would ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain.

World English Bible
Don’t turn away to go after vain things which can’t profit or deliver, for they are vain.

Young's Literal Translation
and ye do not turn aside after the vain things which do not profit nor deliver, for they are vain,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Samuel's Farewell Address
20“Do not be afraid,” Samuel replied. “Even though you have committed all this evil, do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. 21Do not turn aside after worthless things that cannot profit you or deliver you, for they are empty. 22Indeed, for the sake of His great name, the LORD will not abandon His people, because He was pleased to make you His own.…

Cross References
Acts 14:15
"Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them.

Deuteronomy 11:16
But be careful that you are not enticed to turn aside to worship and bow down to other gods,

Isaiah 41:29
See, they are all a delusion; their works amount to nothing; their images are as empty as the wind.

Habakkuk 2:18
What 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.


Treasury of Scripture

And turn you not aside: for then should you go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain.

vain things

Deuteronomy 32:21
They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

Jeremiah 2:5,13
Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain? …

Jeremiah 10:8,15
But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities…

cannot profit

Psalm 115:4-8
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands…

Isaiah 41:23,24
Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together…

Isaiah 44:9,10
They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed…

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1 Samuel 12
1. Samuel testifies his integrity
6. He reproves the people of ingratitude
16. He terrifies them with thunder in harvest time
20. he comforts them in God's mercy














(21) For then should ye go after vain things.--The passage is more forcible without the "for" and the words in italics supplied in the English translation. The verse without it would run thus: "Turn ye not aside after vain things which cannot profit," &c. Singularly enough, not one of the ancient versions translate the Hebrew ki, "for": they all omit it. It is therefore clear that this "for" has, through some copyist's error, got into the text since the versions were made.

Verse 21. - For then should ye go after vain things. The word for is omitted in all the ancient versions, and the sense is complete without it: "And turn ye not aside after tohu," the word used in Genesis 1:1, and there translated "without form." It means anything empty, void, and so is often used, as here, for "an idol," because, as St. Paul says, "an idol is nothing in the world" (1 Corinthians 8:4). So Isaiah (Isaiah 44:9) calls the makers of idols vanity, Hebrew, tohu, i.e. empty people, with no sense in them. The word is used again at the end of the verse - which idols cannot profit nor deliver; for they are tohu, emptiness.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Do not
וְלֹ֖א (wə·lō)
Conjunctive waw | Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

turn aside
תָּס֑וּרוּ (tā·sū·rū)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine plural
Strong's 5493: To turn aside

after
אַחֲרֵ֣י (’a·ḥă·rê)
Preposition
Strong's 310: The hind or following part

worthless
הַתֹּ֗הוּ (hat·tō·hū)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 8414: A desolation, desert, a worthless thing, in vain

things that
אֲשֶׁ֧ר (’ă·šer)
Pronoun - relative
Strong's 834: Who, which, what, that, when, where, how, because, in order that

cannot
לֹֽא־ (lō-)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

profit [you]
יוֹעִ֛ילוּ (yō·w·‘î·lū)
Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 3276: To confer or gain profit or benefit

or deliver [you],
יַצִּ֖ילוּ (yaṣ·ṣî·lū)
Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 5337: To strip, plunder, deliver oneself, be delivered, snatch away, deliver

for
כִּי־ (kî-)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

they [are]
הֵֽמָּה׃ (hêm·māh)
Pronoun - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1992: They

empty.
תֹ֥הוּ (ṯō·hū)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 8414: A desolation, desert, a worthless thing, in vain


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OT History: 1 Samuel 12:21 And don't turn aside (1Sa iSam 1 Sam i sa)
1 Samuel 12:20
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