Judges 2:3 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.
Judges 2:3 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.' "
Judges 2:3 niv
And I have also said, 'I will not drive them out before you; they will become traps for you, and their gods will become snares to you.'?"
Judges 2:3 esv
So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you."
Judges 2:3 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."
Judges 2 3 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Exod 23:33 | "They shall not dwell in your land... lest they make you sin against Me..." | Prophecy: Pagan gods lead to sin and entanglement. |
| Num 33:55 | "But if you do not drive out the inhabitants... they shall be thorns in your eyes and pricks in your sides..." | Direct fulfillment: Unexpelled peoples become tormentors. |
| Deut 7:2-4 | "utterly destroy them... you shall make no covenant with them... for they would turn your sons..." | Command to separate, and warning against turning from God. |
| Deut 12:29-31 | "do not inquire after their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve...' " | Prohibition against imitating pagan worship practices. |
| Deut 28:15 | "But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God... all these curses will come upon you..." | General covenant curse for disobedience. |
| Deut 31:16-18 | "this people will rise and play the harlot after the foreign gods... I will forsake them." | Prophecy: God's withdrawal due to Israel's idolatry. |
| Josh 23:12-13 | "For if you ever go back... know for certain that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations... they shall be snares and traps for you..." | Joshua's solemn, parallel warning to Israel. |
| Judg 1:21, 27-36 | "But the people of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites... Nor did Manasseh drive out..." | Immediate context: Examples of Israel's initial failure to obey. |
| Judg 2:1-2 | "I brought you up from Egypt... I will never break my covenant... But you have not obeyed my voice." | Immediate context: God's rebuke for breaking His commands. |
| 1 Sam 12:14-15 | "If you will fear the LORD... you and your king will continue... But if you will not obey... His hand will be against you..." | Consequence for rejecting God's direct commands. |
| Ps 106:34-36 | "They did not destroy the peoples... but mingled with the nations... and served their idols, which became a snare to them." | Historical account confirming Israel's exact failure and consequence. |
| Ps 106:37-39 | "They sacrificed their sons... and shed innocent blood... and polluted themselves with their deeds." | Illustrates the moral depth of pagan practices embraced by Israel. |
| Prov 29:6 | "An evil man is ensnared by his sin, but a righteous one sings and rejoices." | Principle of sin acting as a trap or entanglement. |
| Jer 2:13 | "For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me... and hewed out cisterns..." | Israel's spiritual unfaithfulness described as a rejection of God. |
| Hos 4:17 | "Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone." | God's allowing Israel to pursue their chosen path of idolatry. |
| Lev 18:24-30 | "Do not defile yourselves by any of these things, for by all these the nations whom I am driving out... became defiled..." | Highlights the defiling and corrupting nature of Canaanite practices. |
| Matt 13:22 | "The cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word..." | Illustrates how 'thorns' (worldly concerns) can hinder spiritual growth. |
| 1 Cor 10:14 | "Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry." | NT command against the pervasive spiritual danger of idol worship. |
| 1 Tim 3:7 | "...he must have a good reputation... lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil." | Spiritual danger of snares that lead to entanglement and fall. |
| 2 Tim 2:26 | "...that they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him..." | Spiritual bondage from snares, leading to repentance and freedom. |
| Rev 2:14 | "But I have a few things against you, because you have there people who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel..." | Condemnation for tolerating within the community those who lead others into sin. |
| Col 2:8 | "See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit... according to the elemental spirits of the world..." | NT warning against deceptive human traditions that ensnare. |
| Ezek 14:3-4 | "These men have taken their idols into their hearts... Shall I let myself be inquired of by them?" | God's refusal to answer those clinging to idols in their hearts. |
Judges 2 verses
Judges 2 3 Meaning
After recounting His unwavering faithfulness to Israel and His promise to establish them in the land, the Angel of the Lord declares a solemn consequence for their disobedience: God will no longer actively assist them in driving out the remaining Canaanite nations. Instead, these very nations, whom Israel tolerated, will become perpetual sources of physical irritation and pain, much like thorns. Crucially, the gods of these nations, which Israel failed to dismantle, will serve as insidious traps, leading God's people into spiritual unfaithfulness and its resulting judgment, fulfilling the earlier warnings given at the beginning of the conquest.
Judges 2 3 Context
Judges chapter 2 opens with the "Angel of the Lord" appearing to Israel at Bochim, directly after the summary of incomplete conquest in Judges chapter 1. The Angel’s speech (Judges 2:1-5) serves as a divine inquest into Israel's failure. While God had faithfully kept His covenant by bringing them into the land, Israel had clearly violated their part of the covenant by not completely driving out the inhabitants and by making treaties with them, instead of destroying their altars as commanded. Verse 3 is the direct pronouncement of divine judgment stemming from this profound disobedience. Historically, the period after Joshua's strong leadership saw Israel becoming lax and disobedient, a direct deviation from the meticulous commands for holy separation and destruction of pagan influences given in books like Deuteronomy and Exodus. The Canaanite culture, characterized by polytheism, ritual prostitution, and child sacrifice (to gods like Baal and Asherah), posed an immense spiritual threat, which God’s command to utterly dispossess them was designed to circumvent.
Judges 2 3 Word analysis
- Therefore I also said: This phrase, Hebrew Gam 'ani amarəti (גַּם־אֲנִי אָמַרְתִּי), emphasizes the divine origin of the statement. "Therefore" links it directly to Israel's prior disobedience. "I also said" underscores God's judicial decision, which mirrors Israel's unfaithfulness. It implies that just as Israel failed to fulfill its part, God will alter His cooperative role.
- I will not drive them out before you: Hebrew lo' agareshem mippenekem (לֹא־אֲגָרֵשׁ אוֹתָם מִפְּנֵיכֶם). The verb garash (גָּרַשׁ) means to drive out, to expel. This is a direct reversal of God's prior active assistance (e.g., Exod 23:29-30). It signals God's withdrawal of direct divine aid in conquest.
- but they will be as thorns in your sides: Hebrew wəhayu lakem lətzidim (וְהָיוּ לָכֶם לְצִדִּים) in many texts; more specifically related to Numbers 33:55's sikim b'tzidekhem (שִׂכִּים בְּצִדֵּיכֶם), meaning 'thorns in your sides'. The term tzidim (צִדִּים) itself can mean 'adversaries' or 'traps' in a broader sense, intensifying the imagery of perpetual harassment, pain, and nuisance. The metaphor of "thorns" represents constant irritation, opposition, and a source of harm and discomfort.
- and their gods will be a snare to you: Hebrew we'elōhēhem yihyu lakem ləmoqesh (וֵאלֹהֵיהֶם יִהְיוּ לָכֶם לְמוֹקֵשׁ).
- their gods: Refers to the various pagan deities of the Canaanites (Baal, Asherah, Dagon, etc.), symbols of the idolatrous worship that was explicitly forbidden to Israel.
- snare: Hebrew moqesh (מוֹקֵשׁ), signifying a trap or entanglement, particularly used for birds or animals. This illustrates a spiritual peril: their religious practices would ensnare Israel, leading them into sin and away from the true God, entrapping them in false worship and its associated immorality. This highlights that the greatest danger was not just physical, but spiritual and theological.
Judges 2 3 Bonus section
- The Bochim Effect: This pronouncement is made by the Angel of the Lord at a place called "Bochim," meaning "weepers" (Jdg 2:1-5). This name encapsulates the remorse and tears of the people in response to God's harsh verdict, signaling the profound gravity of their disobedience and the shift in their relationship with God from active partnership to judicial consequence.
- A Recurring Pattern: This verse effectively establishes the cyclical pattern of the book of Judges: Israel sins by embracing foreign gods and neglecting God's commands; God raises up foreign nations to oppress them ("thorns"); Israel cries out; God sends a deliverer; peace ensues for a period, until Israel repeats the cycle.
- The Test and the Failure: The remaining nations were often seen not just as punishment, but as a test (Jdg 2:22-23; 3:1-4). This verse indicates that Israel failed this fundamental test of faith and obedience, opting for compromise rather than consecrated separation.
- Self-Inflicted Punishment: The consequence described here is not simply arbitrary suffering inflicted by God; rather, it's the natural and divinely ordained result of Israel's own choices. Their toleration of sin became the very mechanism of their punishment, illustrating that sowing spiritual seeds of compromise yields a harvest of difficulty and enslavement to what they failed to renounce.
Judges 2 3 Commentary
Judges 2:3 represents a critical theological juncture in Israel's history, setting the tone for the entire book of Judges. It unveils the principle that incomplete obedience inevitably leads to ongoing spiritual and physical detriment. Having promised to dispossess the Canaanites to safeguard Israel's unique relationship with Him, God now pronounces that the very nations Israel failed to remove will become instruments of divine discipline. The 'thorns' symbolize perpetual external opposition and irritation, denying Israel rest and prosperity, while the 'snare' denotes the deeper, insidious internal corruption brought about by idolatry. What Israel initially spared as an inconvenience, God now leaves as a judgment, turning the very presence of these peoples and their false worship into an active source of affliction. This consequence is not arbitrary; it directly fits the sin. Israel refused to remove the temptation, so the temptation becomes their torment, proving God's word (Exod 23:33; Num 33:55; Deut 7:16) to be immutable even as His active intercession shifted to a mode of judicial consequence. This divine decree at Bochim underscores God’s holiness, His intolerance for compromise, and the painful results of covenant infidelity.