Exodus Chapter 23 verse 28 Holy Bible
And I will send the hornet before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.
read chapter 23 in ASV
I will send hornets before you, driving out the Hivite and the Canaanite and the Hittite before your face.
read chapter 23 in BBE
And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.
read chapter 23 in DARBY
And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.
read chapter 23 in KJV
And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before thee.
read chapter 23 in WBT
I will send the hornet before you, which will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before you.
read chapter 23 in WEB
`And I have sent the hornet before thee, and it hath cast out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee;
read chapter 23 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 28. - And I will send hornets before thee. This is scarcely to be taken literally, since no actual plague of hornets is mentioned in the historical narrative. "Hornets" here, and in Deuteronomy 7:20; Joshua 24:12, are probably plagues or troubles of any kind, divinely sent to break the power of the heathen nations, and render them an easier prey to the Israelites, when they made their invasion. Possibly, the main "hornets" were the Egyptians, who, under Rameses III., successfully invaded Palestine about the time of Israel's sojourn in the wilderness, and weakened the power of the Hittites (Khita). The Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite. By a common figure of speech, a part is put {or the whole - three nations for seven. The three names seem to be taken at random, but include the two nations of most power - the Canaanites and the Hittites.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(28) I will send hornets.--Heb., the hornet. Comp. Joshua 24:12, where "the hornet" is said to have been sent. No doubt hornets might be so numerous as to become an intolerable plague, and induce a nation to quit its country and seek another (see Bochart, Hierozoic. iv. 13). But as we have no historical account of the kind in connection with the Canaanite races, the expression here used is scarcely to be taken literally. Probably the Egyptians are the hornets intended. It was they who, under Rameses III., broke the power of the Hittites and other nations of Palestine, while the Israelites were sojourners in the wilderness. Possibly the term was chosen in reference to the hieroglyphic sign for "king" in Egypt, which was the figure of a bee or wasp. The author of the Book of Wisdom seems, however, to have understood the expression literally (Wisdom Of Solomon 12:8-9).
