Bible Strands
Joshua 23:13
know for sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become for you a snare and a trap, a scourge in your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that the LORD your God has given you.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Joshua addresses the Israelite leaders near the end of his life, following his reminder that every promise regarding the land has been fulfilled (Joshua 23:14). He warns the people who are about to settle the territory but still share it with remaining Canaanite groups.
The words — The Hebrew terms תֵּֽדְע֔וּ (te.de.'U) and יָד֙וֹעַ֙ (ya.Do.a') both derive from H3045, conveying "you will know" and "certainly know." The phrase לְ/הוֹרִ֛ישׁ (le./ho.Rish) means "to dispossess," paired with לֹ֨א (lo') to state God will "no longer" drive out the nations.
The thread — The warning connects to Numbers 33:55, where remaining inhabitants become "barbs," and Exodus 23:33, which forbids their retention to prevent sin. Joshua 23:13 explicitly links the nations becoming a "snare and a trap" to Israel's failure to remove them.
Why it lands — The text states that God will stop driving out the remaining nations, who will then become a snare, trap, scourge, and thorns until the people perish from the land. It demands immediate obedience to remove the groups rather than tolerate their presence.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 7:16 You must destroy all the peoples the LORD your God will deliver to you. Do not look on them with pity. Do not worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you.
- Numbers 33:55 But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land before you, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides; they will harass you in the land where you settle.
- Exodus 23:33 They must not remain in your land, lest they cause you to sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”
- Judges 2:2 and you are not to make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall tear down their altars.’ Yet you have not obeyed My voice. What is this you have done?
- Deuteronomy 28:63 Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and multiply, so also it will please Him to annihilate you and destroy you. And you will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.
- 2 Kings 17:22 The Israelites persisted in all the sins that Jeroboam had committed and did not turn away from them.
- Psalms 69:22 May their table become a snare; may it be a retribution and a trap.
- Psalms 106:35 but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs.
- Luke 21:24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all the nations. And Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
- Leviticus 26:31 I will reduce your cities to rubble and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will refuse to smell the pleasing aroma of your sacrifices.