Should people turn to the left or the right?

No.

Moses told the people to be careful to do what God commanded, and not to turn aside to the right or to the left. He said they also needed to do whatever the priests said, not turning aside to the right or to the left. Their king should never turn from God’s law to the right or to the left, either.

Moses’s successor Joshua said, both at the beginning and at the end of his time leading Israel, that they should not turn aside from the law of Moses to the right or to the left.

The Bible says King Josiah didn’t turn aside to the right or to the left from the ways of David, and that what he did was right in the eyes of the Lord.

Solomon advised his son to fix his gaze straight ahead, and not turn to the right or the left, in order to avoid evil.

Yes, but only to the right.

Solomon also says the hearts of the wise are inclined to the right, but the hearts of fools are inclined to the left.

Yes, either way is good.

Abraham decided that he and his nephew should go their own separate ways. Either Lot could go to the left and Abraham would go to the right, or Lot could go to the right and Abraham would go to the left. Whichever of those they ended up doing, it must not have been a bad decision, since God later stated that Abraham had always done just what God wanted him to do.

Asahel, on the other hand, refused when he was urged to turn aside to the right or to the left, and he died as a result.

Maybe the Bible doesn’t mean it literally when it says you shouldn’t turn to the right or the left. But even if that’s true, the Bible is still inconsistent. Isaiah, speaking figuratively, tells the people of Jerusalem that whether they turn to the right or to the left, God will tell them they’re going the right way.

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