7:20 God will send hornets. The Hebrew word for “hornet” is from the same root as “leprosy” or “leprous disease” (Lev. 14:3). Here it may mean “God will send distress.” But the figure of stinging insects chasing the enemy is used elsewhere (1:44; Is. 7:18), and the metaphor of a hornet is quite appropriate (Ex. 23:28 note). God promises to fight for His people with the same power He manifested in the Exodus (v. 18).