Know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.
Know for certain that the LORD your God will no longer drive out any of these nations ahead of you. Instead, they will become traps and snares for you, whips that strike your sides, and thorns that pierce your eyes, until you are destroyed from this good land which the LORD your God has given you.
Joshua is warning that if Israel disobeys God, He will stop helping them defeat their enemies, and those enemies will become a source of constant trouble that will eventually destroy them.
📚 Historical Context
In the Book of Joshua, the Israelites had successfully conquered much of the Promised Land under Joshua's leadership, but some enemy nations still remained. Joshua, nearing the end of his life, warned the people that if they failed to drive out these nations as God commanded, those groups would become persistent sources of spiritual and physical danger, leading to their eventual downfall. This reflects the ancient cultural reality where intermingling with Canaanite peoples often resulted in adopting their idolatrous practices, which God saw as a threat to Israel's covenant faithfulness.
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