Numbers 33:55

55 `And if ye do not dispossess the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it hath been, those whom ye let remain of them, [are] for pricks in your eyes, and for thorns in your sides, and they have distressed you on the land in which ye are dwelling,

Numbers 33:55 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 33:55

But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land
before you
Should be remiss and careless about it, and indifferent to it, and not make use of the proper means to get rid of them, but, on the contrary, make covenants with them, and intermarry among them; or, however, become friendly to them, and suffer them to dwell among them:

then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them;
sparing their lives, and permitting them to dwell among them:

shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides;
which figurative expressions show that they should be very troublesome and distressing to them, even in their most tender and nearest concerns, and dearest relations, and which are explained and more properly expressed as follows:

and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell;
among other things by their wicked conversation, and by drawing them into sin through their ill examples, and so bring the displeasure of God upon them, and punishment for their evil doings.

Numbers 33:55 In-Context

53 and ye have possessed the land, and dwelt in it, for to you I have given the land -- to possess it.

54 `And ye have inherited the land by lot, by your families; to the many ye increase their inheritance, and to the few ye diminish their inheritance; whither the lot goeth out to him, it is his; by the tribes of your fathers ye inherit.

55 `And if ye do not dispossess the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it hath been, those whom ye let remain of them, [are] for pricks in your eyes, and for thorns in your sides, and they have distressed you on the land in which ye are dwelling,

56 and it hath come to pass, as I thought to do to them -- I do to you.'