Translation commentary on Proverbs 4:27

“Do not swerve to the right or to the left”: “Swerve” translates a form of a verb meaning “to turn.” This refers to deviating or turning from a straight line course. Verses 24-26 advise the learner to speak straight, look straight, and walk straight. In verse 27 the command is to avoid turning or moving suddenly away from the straight line ahead. “Right” and “left” do not refer here to any quality such as good or bad. Together they serve to make clear that no turning away from the straight line is permitted.

“Turn your foot away from evil”: Note that Good News Translation begins the verse with this clause, rendering it “Avoid evil.” It then picks up the beginning of the first line “and walk straight ahead.” The second part of the first line is then rendered “Don’t go one step off the right way.” Bible en français courant is also a good model: “Do not stray, neither to the left nor to the right. Keep yourself from evil.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

complete verse (Proverbs 4:27)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Proverbs 4:27:

  • Kupsabiny: “Avoid the way of sinners and do not wander going/leaning to the right or the left hand.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Don’t get sidetracked. Keep going straight.
    Keep [your] steps far away from evil.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “You (sing.)] live straight; keep-away from doing evil.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Go-far-from evil. Don’t go-astray to walk to the right or left but rather go-straight on the correct/proper path.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)

SIL Translator’s Notes on Proverbs 4:27

4:27

Notice the parallelism. The parallel command in the second line explains the meaning of not swerving in the first line.

27a Do not swerve to the right or to the left;

27b turn your feet away from evil.

4:27a–b

Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your feet away from evil: To swerve is to stray from the right path by doing evil. In some languages, it may be more natural to reorder the lines: For example:

Avoid evil and walk straight ahead. Don’t go one step off the right way. (Good News Translation)

© 2012, 2016, 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.