13 Yet it came to pass, when the children of Israel were waxen strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute; but did not utterly drive them out.
13 However, when the Israelites grew stronger, they subjected the Canaanites to forced labor but did not drive them out completely.
13 Now when the people of Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out.
13 But later, when the Israelites got stronger, they put the Canaanites to forced labor. But they never did get rid of them.
13 And it happened, when the children of Israel grew strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out.
13 Later, however, when the Israelites became strong enough, they forced the Canaanites to work as slaves. But they did not drive them out of the land.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Joshua 17:13
Commentary on Joshua 17:7-13
(Read Joshua 17:7-13)
There was great communication between Manasseh and Ephraim. Though each tribe had its inheritance, yet they should intermix one with another, to do good offices one to another, as became those, who, though of different tribes, were all one Israel, and were bound to love as brethren. But they suffered the Canaanites to live among them, against the command of God, to serve their own ends.