Turn ye not aside, to wit, after idols; as they had often done before; and, notwithstanding this warning, did afterwards. Should ye go, or, should ye turn aside; which words are easily to be understood out of the foregoing branch, such ellipses being most frequent in Scripture, as Deuteronomy 1:4 1 Kings 14:14 2 Kings 9:27. Vain things; so idols are called, Deuteronomy 32:21 Jeremiah 2:5, and so they are, being mere nothings, 1 Corinthians 8:4, having no divinity nor power in them; no influence upon us, nor use or benefit to us. Which cannot profit nor deliver, i.e. which will not only be unprofitable, but highly pernicious to you; the contrary affirmative being understood under the negative, as Exodus 20:7 Numbers 21:23 Deuteronomy 2:30.
Related Commentaries of 1 Samuel 12:21
1 Samuel 12:21
21 And turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain.