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Exodus 23:28

in Exodus 23

I will send the hornet before you to drive the Hivites and Canaanites and Hittites out of your way.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And I will send the hornet before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.

KJV

And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.

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This verse in Exodus 23

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

I will send hornets before thee - הצרעה hatstsirah. The root is not found in Hebrew, but it may be the same with the Arabic saraa, to lay prostrate, to strike down; the hornet, probably so called from the destruction occasioned by the violence of its sting.

This site's exposition

I will send My terror ahead of you

on Exodus 23:27-28

The terror arrives ahead of the army. Exodus 15:14 to 15:16 had sung that the peoples would hear and tremble, and Joshua 2:9 to 2:11 records Rahab saying it had happened.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And I will send hornets before thee,....

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

But only one is here specified--the danger lest, in the unoccupied grounds, wild beasts should inconveniently multiply; a clear proof that the promised land was more than sufficient to contain the actual population of the Israelites.
Hornets - Compare the marginal references. The word is used figuratively for a cause of terror and discouragement. Bees are spoken of in the like sense, Deu 1:44; Psa 118:12.

The words behind it

12 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְשָׁלַחְתִּ֥יand I will send

    veshalachtiH7971 →845 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הַצִּרְעָ֖הthe hornet

    hatzirahH6880 →

  • לְפָנֶ֑יךָ<to> before you

    lefaneikhaH6440 →2123 times

  • וְגֵרְשָׁ֗הand it will drive out

    vegereshahH1644 →46 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הַחִוִּ֧יthe Hivite[s]

    hachiviH2340 →25 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הַֽכְּנַעֲנִ֛יthe Canaanite[s]

    hakenaaniH3669 →73 times

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • הַחִתִּ֖יthe Hittite[s]

    hachitiH2850 →48 times

  • מִלְּפָנֶֽיךָ׃from to before you

    milefaneikhaH6440 →2123 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

7 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Joshua 24:12I sent the hornet ahead of you, and it drove out the two Amorite kings before you, but not by your own sword or bow.8 worksDeuteronomy 7:20Moreover, the LORD your God will send the hornet against them until even the survivors hiding from you have perished.7 worksJoshua 24:11–12After this, you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The people of Jericho fought against you, as did the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I delivered them into your hand.5 works1 Chronicles 1:13And Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites,2 worksDeuteronomy 7:1When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to possess, and He drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you—2 worksJoshua 5:1Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the Israelites until they had crossed over, their hearts melted and their spirits failed for fear of the Israelites.2 works
The other 1 cross-references, with their words ▾
Psalms 44:2With Your hand You drove out the nations and planted our fathers there; You crushed the peoples and cast them out.2 works

The walk

2 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 7:20

    Moreover, the LORD your God will send the hornet against them until even the survivors hiding from you have perished.

    it leads to

    • Joshua 24:12

      I sent the hornet ahead of you, and it drove out the two Amorite kings before you, but not by your own sword or bow.

    • Exodus 23:28–30

      I will send the hornet before you to drive the Hivites and Canaanites and Hittites out of your way.

Where this verse is studied

About Exodus

The Israelites Leaving Egypt, David Roberts, 1829. Public domain.
The Israelites Leaving Egypt, David Roberts, 1829. Public domain.
Exodus: the study guide →Read Exodus 23 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch.

Read on in Exodus 23 →