What Does Deuteronomy 5:32 Mean in the King James?
Ye shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
“Observe” carries the work of guarding: the command stays alive as it becomes action, while turning aside names departure from that course.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks to the reader now: what is commanded takes shape in action, and its direction remains steady to the right and left. To observe is to keep the instruction under watch as it becomes the way one moves.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a person can claim to keep the command while bending its direction to fit personal preference.
THE ROOT
וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם
u-shmartem
GROWS FROM
שמר
guard, watch over, keep
The root gives “observe” the added texture of guarding: attention stays with what is entrusted until it becomes action. The verse describes keeping watch over the command through the doing.
ALSO GROWS
shomer: watchman, guardian
שֹׁמֵר
A guardian keeps watch rather than merely noticing; this brings the watchful force behind “observe” into view.
mishmeret: charge, guard duty
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
A charge is something held in care, showing how observance continues beyond a moment of attention.
תָּסוּרוּ
tasuru
GROWS FROM
סור
turn aside, depart, move away
“turn aside” in this verse is tasuru. The root can describe both departing and removing, so turning aside names more than a small change of direction: it is movement away from the course. The right and left mark the span within which the instruction is kept.
ALSO GROWS
sar: one who has turned aside or departed
סָר
This form names departure itself, making the forbidden movement a leaving of the path.
hasir: remove, take away
הָסִיר
The root’s sense of removing deepens “turn aside” as movement away from the course, not merely a directional detail.
THE PATTERN
Instruction is preserved as a lived course when attention becomes action and the path is kept without veering.
Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.THE THREAD
Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.Joshua 1:7 repeats the guarding-to-action structure and the same prohibition against turning right or left. That close verbal echo shows how the command is kept: it remains intact in action.
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