1 Samuel 12:21

American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

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

Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וְלֹ֖א תָּס֑וּרוּ כִּ֣י ׀ אַחֲרֵ֣י הַתֹּ֗הוּ אֲשֶׁ֧ר לֹֽא־יוֹעִ֛ילוּ וְלֹ֥א יַצִּ֖ילוּ כִּי־תֹ֥הוּ הֵֽמָּה׃

Transliteration

wə-lōʾ tāsûrû kî ʾaḥărê ha-tōhû ʾăšer lōʾ-yôʿîlû wə-lōʾ yaṣṣîlû kî-tōhû hēmmāh

Grammar Details

*wə-lōʾ*: conjunction + negative particle - and do not
*tāsûrû*: qal imperfect 2nd person masculine plural - turn aside
*kî*: conjunction - for/after
*ʾaḥărê*: preposition - after
*ha-tōhû*: definite article + noun masculine singular - the emptiness
*ʾăšer*: relative pronoun - which
*lōʾ*-*yôʿîlû*: negative particle + hiphil imperfect 3rd person masculine plural - do not profit
*yaṣṣîlû*: hiphil imperfect 3rd person masculine plural - deliver
*kî*-*tōhû*: conjunction + noun masculine singular - for emptiness
*hēmmāh*: 3rd person masculine plural independent pronoun - they are

Word Meanings

*tāsûrû*: turn aside/depart/deviate
*ha-tōhû*: the emptiness/vanity/worthless things/idols
*yôʿîlû*: profit/benefit/help
*yaṣṣîlû*: deliver/rescue/save
*tōhû*: emptiness/vanity/nothingness

ℹ️

About this Translation

American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

Formal EquivalenceSource: American Standard VersionBest for: Word studies and original-language research

🎯 Translation Approach

A highly literal, word-for-word translation (ASV, 1901) augmented with Strong's numbering to connect English words to underlying Hebrew and Greek terms for study.

Word-for-word

5/5

Readability

2/5

💎 Distinctive Features

Integrated Strong's numbering: Links English terms to underlying Hebrew and Greek words for deeper lexical study.
Formal equivalence: Prioritizes close alignment with source-language forms and structures.
Divine name rendering: Frequently renders the Tetragrammaton as Jehovah in the Old Testament, following ASV tradition.
Study-focused formatting: Optimized for reference and research rather than casual reading.

✅ Strengths

High fidelity to original languages
Includes Strong's numbers for precise word study
Consistent lexical choices aid exegesis
Stable, longstanding scholarly text

⚠️ Considerations

Archaic language reduces readability
Older textual basis compared to some modern translations
Strong's numbers are a concordance index, not full lexical definitions

👥 Who is this for?

Ideal for

Pastors and teachers
Seminary students
Serious Bible students
Readers conducting word studies
Those referencing Hebrew/Greek tools

Consider alternatives for

Casual readers
Children and early teens
ESL learners seeking simple English
Readers preferring contemporary language

🔄 Compare with

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Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

Hab 2:18 : 18 What profiteth the graven image, that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he that fashioneth its form trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?
Jer 10:15 : 15 They are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
Jer 16:19 : 19 O Jehovah, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, unto thee shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Our fathers have inherited nought but lies, [even] vanity and things wherein there is no profit.
Jer 14:22 : 22 Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O Jehovah our God? therefore we will wait for thee; for thou hast made all these things.
1 Cor 8:4 : 4 Concerning therefore the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is [anything] in the world, and that there is no {G2087} God but {G3361} one.
Isa 45:20 : 20 Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that carry the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.
Isa 46:7 : 7 They bear it upon the shoulder, they carry it, and set it in its place, and it standeth, from its place shall it not remove: yea, one may cry unto it, yet can it not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.
Jer 2:5 : 5 thus saith Jehovah, What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?
Jer 2:13 : 13 For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
Jer 10:8 : 8 But they are together brutish and foolish: the instruction of idols! it is but a stock.
Deut 11:16 : 16 Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;
Deut 32:21 : 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 that are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
Ps 115:4-8 : 4 Their idols are silver and gold, The work of men's hands. 5 They have mouths, but they speak not; Eyes have they, but they see not; 6 They have ears, but they hear not; Noses have they, but they smell not; 7 They have hands, but they handle not; Feet have they, but they walk not; Neither speak they through their throat. 8 They that make them shall be like unto them; Yea, every one that trusteth in them.
Isa 41:23-24 : 23 Declare 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. 24 Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work is of nought; an abomination is he that chooseth you.
Isa 41:29 : 29 Behold, all of them, their works are vanity [and] nought; their molten images are wind and confusion.
Isa 44:9-9 : 9 They that fashion a graven image are all of them vanity; and the things that they delight in shall not profit; and their own witnesses see not, nor know: that they may be put to shame. 10 Who hath fashioned a god, or molten an image that is profitable for nothing?
Jonah 2:8 : 8 They that regard lying vanities Forsake their own mercy.

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

1 Sam 12:20
78%
20And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not; ye have indeed done all this evil; yet turn not aside from following Jehovah, but serve Jehovah with all your heart:
Deut 28:14
74%
14and shalt not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
Prov 4:14-15
2 verses
73%
14Enter not into the path of the wicked, And walk not in the way of evil men.
15Avoid it, pass not by it; Turn from it, and pass on.
Prov 4:27
73%
27Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: Remove thy foot from evil.
Isa 31:6
73%
6Turn ye unto him from whom ye have deeply revolted, O children of Israel.
Deut 11:16
73%
16Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;
Deut 30:17
73%
17But if thy heart turn away, and thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;
1 Kgs 9:6
73%
6But if ye shall turn away from following me, ye or your children, and not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but shall go and serve other gods, and worship them;
2 Chr 7:19
73%
19But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them;
Num 32:15
73%
15For if ye turn away from after him, he will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and ye will destroy all this people.
Jonah 2:8
72%
8They that regard lying vanities Forsake their own mercy.
Deut 12:30
72%
30take heed to thyself that thou be not ensnared to follow them, after that they are destroyed from before thee; and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, How do these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.
2 Kgs 17:12
72%
12and they served idols, whereof Jehovah had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.
Ps 119:37
72%
37Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity, And quicken me in thy ways.
Jer 7:8
72%
8Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.
Zeph 1:6
72%
6and them that are turned back from following Jehovah; and those that have not sought Jehovah, nor inquired after him.
1 Sam 12:22
72%
22For Jehovah will not forsake his people for his great name's sake, because it hath pleased Jehovah to make you a people unto himself.
Job 27:12
72%
12Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it; Why then are ye become altogether vain?
Josh 24:20
71%
20If ye forsake Jehovah, and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you evil, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.
Deut 5:32
71%
32Ye shall observe to do therefore as Jehovah your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
1 Tim 1:6
71%
6from which things some having swerved have turned aside unto vain talking;
Jer 25:5-6
2 verses
71%
5saying, Return ye now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that Jehovah hath given unto you and to your fathers, from of old and even for evermore;
6and go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the work of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.
1 Sam 12:24-25
2 verses
71%
24Only fear Jehovah, and serve him in truth with all your heart; for consider how great things he hath done for you.
25But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king.
Jer 2:5
71%
5thus saith Jehovah, What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?
Exod 23:2
71%
2Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to turn aside after a multitude to wrest [justice]:
Amos 5:5
71%
5but seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth-el shall come to nought.
Deut 12:4
71%
4Ye shall not do so unto Jehovah your God.
Job 34:27
71%
27Because they turned aside from following him, And would not have regard in any of his ways:
Mal 3:14
70%
14Ye have said, It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept his charge, and that we have walked mournfully before Jehovah of hosts?
Deut 6:14
70%
14Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples that are round about you;
Prov 1:15
70%
15My son, walk not thou in the way with them; Refrain thy foot from their path:
Num 14:43
70%
43For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned back from following Jehovah, therefore Jehovah will not be with you.
2 Chr 30:7
70%
7And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, who trespassed against Jehovah, the God of their fathers, so that he gave them up to desolation, as ye see.
Isa 30:21
70%
21and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it; when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
Job 6:18
70%
18The caravans [that travel] by the way of them turn aside; They go up into the waste, and perish.
Deut 11:28
70%
28and the curse, if ye shall not hearken unto the commandments of Jehovah your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.
Josh 23:12
70%
12Else if ye do at all go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you;
Josh 23:7
69%
7that ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear [by them], neither serve them, nor bow down yourselves unto them;
Jer 2:37
69%
37From thence also shalt thou go forth, with thy hands upon thy head: for Jehovah hath rejected those in whom thou trustest, and thou shalt not prosper with them.
1 Sam 15:19
69%
19Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of Jehovah, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah?
Prov 1:32
69%
32For the backsliding of the simple shall slay them, And the careless ease of fools shall destroy them.
Lev 19:4
69%
4Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am Jehovah your God.
Jer 2:11
69%
11Hath a nation changed [its] gods, which yet are no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.
Hos 12:6
69%
6Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep kindness and justice, and wait for thy God continually.
2 Kgs 17:15
69%
15And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified unto them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and [went] after the nations that were round about them, concerning whom Jehovah had charged them that they should not do like them.