the elders

Judges 8:7
"Very well, " Gideon replied, "when the LORD has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hands, I will tear your flesh with the thorns and briers of the wilderness!"

Proverbs 10:13
Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning, but a rod is for the back of him who lacks judgment.

Proverbs 19:29
Judgments are prepared for mockers, and beatings for the backs of fools.

Ezra 2:6
the descendants of Pahath-moab (through the line of Jeshua and Joab), 2, 812;

thorns

Micah 7:4
The best of them is like a brier; the most upright is sharper then a hedge of thorns. The day you post your watchmen, your punishment will come; then their confusion will arise.

taught.