Charles Ellicott Commentary Judges 2:3

"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 (ASV)

Therefore I also said. —Rather, And now I have said.

I will not drive them out. —The withdrawal of the conditional promises in Exodus 23:31.

They shall be as thorns in your sides. —The Hebrew is, they shall be to you for sides. The words as thorns are conjecturally supplied from Numbers 33:55. In Joshua 23:13 we have scourges in your sides. The Septuagint renders this as “for pressures,” and the Vulgate as “that you may have enemies.”

The Hebrew word for “sides” is tsiddim, and it would differ little from tsarim (“nets”), which is the conjecture of R. Jonas; and this root is found in the verb, and they shall vex you, from Numbers 33:55. Whether we adopt this reading, tsinnim (“thorns”), or suppose that a word has dropped out, the general meaning remains the same.

Their gods shall be a snare to you.—See Judges 2:12-13; Psalms 106:36.