And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth.
With them he taught the men of Succoth, х wayoda` (H3045) baahem (H871a) 'eet (H853) 'ansheey (H376) Cukowt (H5523), and with them made the men of Succoth know - i:e., punished, probably crushing, them with sledges upon a layer of thorns. The Septuagint has: eeloeesen, bruised]. By refusing his soldiers refreshment, they had committed a public crime, as well as an act of inhumanity, and were subjected to a horrible punishment, which the great abundance and remarkable size of the thorn-bushes, together with the thinness of clothing in the East, had probably suggested.