Numbers 33:55

Summary

Numbers 33:55 presents a conditional warning: if the Israelites fail to dispossess the inhabitants of the land, those who remain will become a source of harm — described metaphorically as thorns in the eyes and pricks in the sides — and will oppose the Israelites in the very land where they settle.

Key words

• toRishu ("you will dispossess", H3423H) — hiphil (causative) imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural: the causative form indicates making someone leave/possess, not merely "leaving" on one's own.
• siKim ("thorns", H7899) — masculine plural noun, paired with be'einei ("in the eyes/view", H5869A) construct, forming the image of thorns "in your eyes."
• tzeniNim ("pricks", H6796) — masculine plural noun, paired with betzidei ("in the sides", H6654) construct, forming the parallel image "pricks in your sides."
• tzararu ("they will oppose/harass", H6887D) — qal sequential perfect (vav-consecutive), 3rd person plural, continuing the narrative chain begun by ve + hayah ("and it will be", H1961).
• yoshevim ("dwelling", H3427) — qal participle, masculine plural, describing the ongoing state of the Israelites "dwelling" in the land at the verse's end, echoing the same root used earlier for the current "inhabitants" (yoshevei, H3427) of the land.

What the text says

The verse opens with a conditional clause marked by ve'im ("and if", H9002 + H0518A) plus the negation lo' ("not", H3808), setting up a hypothetical scenario contrary to the expected action. The hiphil imperfect toRishu ("you will dispossess") is causative — it implies actively driving out or causing the inhabitants to lose possession, not simply moving them away. This verb governs the direct object et-yoshevei ha'aretz ("the inhabitants of the land"), itself a qal participle in construct form, meaning literally "the ones sitting/dwelling of the land."

The apodosis begins with vehayah ("and it will be", H1961), a sequential perfect that continues the narrative logic ("if X does not happen, then Y will be the result"). The relative clause asher totiru mehem ("whom you will leave of them") uses another hiphil imperfect, totiru ("you will leave"), again causative, describing the deliberate or resulting act of leaving some inhabitants remaining. These remaining people are then described through two parallel prepositional metaphors: lesikkim be'eineikem ("for thorns in your eyes") and litzeninim betzideikem ("and for pricks in your sides"), both using the preposition le ("into/for", H9005) to mark the predicate of becoming.

The final clause returns to sequential perfect with tzararu ("they will oppose/harass", H6887D), followed by etkhem ("you", direct object marker + suffix) and a locative clause al-ha'aretz asher attem yoshevim bah ("on the land in which you are dwelling"). Here yoshevim is a qal participle, the same root used earlier for the land's current inhabitants, creating a lexical echo between "those dwelling" (the original inhabitants) and "you dwelling" (the Israelites) in the same land.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the Hebrew toRishu ("dispossess") with apolesete ("destroy/lose"), which shifts the causative sense of dispossession toward destruction. The Vulgate uses interficere ("to kill"), a more explicit rendering than the Hebrew hiphil, which does not specify killing but rather causing loss of possession. The Hebrew image siKim ("thorns") and tzeniNim ("pricks") is translated in the LXX as skolopes ("stakes/thorns") and bolides ("darts/spikes"), and in the Vulgate as clavi ("nails") and lanceae ("spears") — each version selecting different concrete objects to render the two Hebrew nouns for sharp, piercing things.