Numbers 33:55

If you do not force the people who live there to leave, they will cause you to have much trouble. They will be like sharp hooks in your eyes, and like thorns in your sides. And they will bring trouble to you, in that land where you will be living.

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.

In Context

54“Divide up the land by throwing ◄lots/small stones which have been marked► to decide which group will get which area. Give the larger areas to the groups that have more people, and give the smaller areas to the groups that have fewer people. Each tribe will receive its own land.

56And then I will punish you, as I had planned to punish them.”

Read all of Numbers 33

Cross References

Deuteronomy 7:4Because, if you did that, those people would cause your children to stop worshiping Yahweh and to worship other gods. If that happens, Yahweh will be very angry with you and he will get rid of you immediately.

Joshua 23:7Do not associate with the people who live among us who are not Israelis and who worship other gods. Do not mention the names of their gods, and do not use the names of their gods when you promise to do something. Do not serve their gods or worship them.

Joshua 23:13then you can be sure that Yahweh our God will not help you to expel those people-groups from your land. They will be like traps [DOU, MET] that will catch you. They will be like whips that strike your backs, and like thorns that will scratch your eyes. As a result, none of you will be left in this good land that Yahweh our God is giving to you.

Judges 2:3So now, I am telling you that I will not expel your enemies as you advance. They will be like thorns in your sides. And they will try to trap you by making you worship their idols.”

Ezekiel 28:24No longer will those who live near you people of Israel hurt you like [MET] painful briers and sharp thorns hurt people. And then the Israeli people will know that I, Yahweh, have the power to do what I say that I will do.”

Matthew Henry on Numbers 33:51-56

The Canaanites Doomed. ( b. c. 1452.) 50 And the Lord spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying, 51 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan; 52 Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places: 53 And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Numbers 33:55