'Pricks' in the Bible

But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.

The way of the lazy is like a hedge of thorns [it pricks, lacerates, and entangles him],But the way [of life] of the upright is smooth and open like a highway.

The words of the wise [are] like cattle goads; the collections of the sages [are] like pricks inflicted by one shepherd.