God’s Word Translation
1 Samuel 12:21
21Don’t turn away to follow other gods. They can’t help or rescue you, because they don’t exist.
1 Samuel 12:21 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)And turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain.
- New International Version (NIV)Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless.
- English Standard Version (ESV)And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty.
- New King James Version (NKJV)And do not turn aside; for then you would go after empty things which cannot profit or deliver, for they are nothing.
Context of 1 Samuel 12:21
19All the people pleaded with Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God for us so that we will not die. We have added ⌞another⌟ evil thing to all our other sins by asking for a king.” 20“Don’t be afraid,” Samuel told the people. “You did do all these evil things. But don’t turn away from the Lord. Instead, serve the Lord wholeheartedly. Don’t turn away to follow other gods. They can’t help or rescue you, because they don’t exist. 22For the sake of his great name, the Lord will not abandon his people, because the Lord wants to make you his people. 23It would be unthinkable for me to sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. I will go on teaching you the way that is good and right.
Read all of 1 Samuel 121 Samuel 12:21 word by word
וְלֹ֖א תָּס֑וּרוּ כִּ֣י׀ אַחֲרֵ֣י הַתֹּ֗הוּ אֲשֶׁ֧ר לֹֽא־יוֹעִ֛ילוּ וְלֹ֥א יַצִּ֖ילוּ כִּי־תֹ֥הוּ הֵֽמָּה׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for 1 Samuel 12:21
- Deuteronomy 32:21They made him furious because they worshiped foreign gods and angered him because they worshiped worthless idols. So I will use those who are not my people to make them jealous and a nation of godless fools to make them angry.
- Jeremiah 2:5This is what the Lord says: What did your ancestors find wrong with me that they went so far away from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.
- Jeremiah 10:8They are complete idiots. They learn nonsense from wooden idols.
- Jeremiah 14:22The worthless gods of the nations can’t make it rain. By themselves, the skies can’t give showers. But you can, O Lord our God. We have hope in you because you do all these things.
- Jeremiah 16:19The Lord is my strength and my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. Nations come to you from the most distant parts of the world and say, “Our ancestors have inherited lies, worthless and unprofitable gods.”
- Jonah 2:8Those who hold on to worthless idols abandon their loyalty ⌞to you⌟.
- Habakkuk 2:18“What benefit is there in a carved idol when its maker has carved it? What benefit is there in a molded statue, a teacher of lies, when its maker has molded it? The one who formed it trusts himself to make worthless idols that cannot speak.
- 1 Corinthians 8:4Now about eating food that was offered to false gods: We know that the false gods in this world don’t really exist and that no god exists except the one God.
- Psalms 115:4Their idols are made of silver and gold. They were made by human hands.
- Isaiah 41:23Tell us what’s going to happen so that we may know that you are gods. Yes, do something, good or evil, to intimidate us and make us afraid.
- Isaiah 44:9All who make idols are nothing. Their precious treasures are worthless. Their own witnesses do not see or know anything, so they will be put to shame.
- Isaiah 45:20Come here, you refugees from the nations. Ignorant people carry wooden idols and pray to gods that cannot save ⌞anyone⌟.
- Isaiah 46:7They lift it on their shoulders and carry it. They set the idol in its place, and it stands there. It doesn’t move from its place. If they cry to it for help, it can’t answer. It can’t rescue them from their distress.
- Jeremiah 10:15They are worthless jokes. When they are punished, they disappear.
Commentaries on 1 Samuel 12:21
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 21After vain things - That is, idols; which he calls here התהו hattohu, the same expression found Genesis 1:2. The earth was תהו tohu ; it was waste, empty, and formless: so idols; they are confusion, and things of naught, for an idol is nothing in the world, it is not the representative of any intelligent being.Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 16-25Verses 16-25 At Samuel's word, God sent thunder and rain, at a season of the year when, in that country, the like was not seen. This was to convince them they had done wickedly in asking a king; not only by its coming at an unusual time, in wheat harvest, and on a clear day, but by the prophet's giving notice of it before. He showed their folly in desiring a king to save them, rather than God, or Samuel; promising themselves more from an arm of flesh…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 21worthless … they are empty: Israel was slow to understand this lesson (for example, Isaiah 40:18–26; 44:9–20).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 17-2517-25. Is it not wheat harvest to-day?--That season in Palestine occurs at the end of June or beginning of July, when it seldom or never rains, and the sky is serene and cloudless. There could not, therefore, have been a stronger or more appropriate proof of a divine mission than the phenomenon of rain and thunder happening, without any prognostics of its approach, upon the prediction of a person professing himself to be a prophet of the Lord, and giving…Read the comment
Topics related to 1 Samuel 12:21
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on 1 Samuel 12
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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