Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out from you; but they will become like thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.’ ”
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.’”
- KJV Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.
- BSB So now I tell you that I will not drive out these people before you; they will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.”
- NKJV Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you.’ ”
- NLT So now I declare that I will no longer drive out the people living in your land. They will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a constant temptation to you.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Because of disobedience, God declares he will not drive out the nations, who will become snares and their gods a trap. It matters as the just consequence of Israel's compromise.
Overview
God announces a fitting judgment: the unremoved nations and their idols will entangle Israel. What Israel tolerated will now afflict them. This shows how unrepented sin brings ensnaring consequences, while also setting the stage for the cycle of oppression and deliverance that structures the book.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Josh 23:13know for a certainty that Yahweh your God will no longer drive these nations from out of your sight; but they shall be a snare and a trap to you, a scourge in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which Yahweh your God has given you.
- Num 33:55“But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those you let remain of them will be as pricks in your eyes and as thorns in your sides, and they will harass you in the land in which you dwell.
- Deut 7:16You shall consume all the peoples whom Yahweh your God shall deliver to you. Your eye shall not pity them: neither shall you serve their gods; for that would be a snare to you.
- Ps 106:36They served their idols, which became a snare to them.
- Exod 34:12Be careful, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare in the middle of you:
- Judg 3:6They took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods.
- Judg 2:21I also will no longer drive out any of the nations that Joshua left when he died from before them;
- Exod 23:33They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”
- 1 Kgs 11:1–7Now king Solomon loved many foreign women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Christ at the center
Israel's cycle of sin and rescue through flawed deliverers cries out for a Savior who never fails — the true and final Judge and Deliverer who saves his people not for a season but forever.
How Judges 2:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.