Joshua's farewell warns that if Israel abandons covenant faithfulness, the remaining Canaanites will become 'scourges in your sides.' The noun describes a striking instrument—a whip, flail, or rod used to inflict pain. The image is of persistent, painful harassment. What could have been removed becomes instead a constant torment. The scourge represents not just physical threat but the consequence of incomplete obedience. Military and agricultural vocabulary merges—the same term could describe a herding whip or punishment tool.