Eschew

Eschew is an archaic English verb meaning to shun, avoid, or keep away from, used in the King James Version and other early English translations to render Hebrew and Greek terms of avoidance, turning aside, and departure from evil. In Psalm 34:14 and 1 Peter 3:11, the same Greek exhortation (ekklino apo kakou, depart from evil) is translated using this word, creating a direct New Testament echo of a wisdom Psalm.

The concept of eschewal belongs to the biblical ethics of separation: the righteous person is characterized not only by what they pursue (peace, good) but by what they actively avoid (evil). Job 1:1, 1:8, and 2:3 describe Job as a man who feared God and eschewed evil, making it part of the fullest description of an upright human life in the entire book. The verb's presence in the KJV reflects the ethical seriousness with which the translation rendered the Hebrew and Greek vocabulary of moral avoidance, emphasizing that holiness requires both positive pursuit and deliberate rejection of what is contrary to God's character.