³³ They must not remain in your land, or else they will make you sin against me. If you serve their gods, it will be a snare for you.”^(A)

¹² Be careful not to make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land that you are going to enter; otherwise, they will become a snare among you.^(A)

¹⁶ You must destroy all the peoples the Lord your God is delivering over to you and not look on them with pity. Do not worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

²⁵ Burn up the carved images of their gods. Don’t covet the silver and gold on the images and take it for yourself, or else you will be ensnared by it, for it is detestable to the Lord your God.

¹³ know for certain that the Lord your God will not continue to drive these nations out before you. They will become a snare and a trap for you,^(A) a sharp stick^[a] for your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you disappear from this good land the Lord your God has given you.

²⁷ Gideon made an ephod^(A) from all this and put it in Ophrah, his hometown. Then all Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.

The Call to Endurance

12 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses^(A) surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance^(B) the race that lies before us,