Joshua 17 · Verse 12

Joshua 17:12

Yet the children of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.
Joshua 17:12, King James Version

Joshua 17:12 in other translations

BSBBut the descendants of Manasseh were unable to occupy these cities, because the Canaanites were determined to stay in this land.
WEBYet the children of Manasseh couldn’t drive out the inhabitants of those cities; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.
ASVYet the children of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.
YLTAnd the sons of Manasseh have not been able to occupy these cities, and the Canaanite is desirous to dwell in this land,
DARBYBut the children of Manasseh could not dispossess the inhabitants of those cities; and the Canaanites would dwell in that land.
BBEBut the children of Manasseh were not able to make the people of those towns go out; but the Canaanites would go on living in that land.
WebsterYet the children of Manasseh could not expel the inhabitants of those cities; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.

What does Joshua 17:12 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Joshua 17:12-13
12-13. Yet the children of Manasseh could not drive out those cities--probably due to indolence, a love of ease. Perhaps a mistaken humanity, arising from a disregard or forgetfulness of the divine command, and a decreasing principle of faith and zeal in the service of God, were the causes of their failure.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 12 Could not drive out, etc. - They had neither grace nor courage to go against their enemies, and chose rather to share their territories with those whom the justice of God had proscribed, than exert themselves to expel them. But some commentators give a different turn to this expression, and translate the passage thus: But the children of Manasseh could not (resolve) to destroy those cities, but the Canaanites consented to dwell in the land. And as they were willing to pay tribute, and the others chose to tolerate them on those terms, they agreed to dwell together: but this paying of tribute seems not to have taken place till some time after, when the children of Israel were waxen strong, etc.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on 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.

Read the full comment on Joshua 17:7-13 →

Joshua 17:12 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וְלֹ֤אve.Lo'and notH3808
יָכְלוּ֙ya.khe.Luthey were ableH3201
בְּנֵ֣יbe.Nei[the] descendants ofH1121
מְנַשֶּׁ֔הme.na.ShehManassehH4519
לְהוֹרִ֖ישׁle.ho.Rishto take possession ofH3423
אֶת\־'et-<obj.>H853
הֶֽעָרִ֣יםhe.'a.Rimthe citiesH5892
הָאֵ֑לֶּהha.'E.leh<the> theseH428
וַיּ֙וֹאֶל֙vai.Yo.'eland he was determinedH2974
הַֽכְּנַעֲנִ֔יha.ke.na.'a.Nithe Canaanite[s]H3669
לָשֶׁ֖בֶתla.She.vetto dwellH3427
בָּאָ֥רֶץba.'A.retzin the landH776
הַזֹּֽאת\׃ha.Zot<the> thisH2063

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Joshua 17:12

  • Exodus 23:29-33

    I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee. By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land. And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee. Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. …

  • Judges 1:27-28

    Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Beth–shean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns: but the Canaanites would dwell in that land. And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out.

  • Romans 6:12-14

    Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

  • Joshua 16:10

    And they drave not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer: but the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites unto this day, and serve under tribute.

  • Joshua 15:63

    As for the Jebusites the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah could not drive them out: but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah at Jerusalem unto this day.

  • Numbers 33:52-56

    Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places: And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given you the land to possess it. And ye shall divide the land by lot for an inheritance among your families: and to the more ye shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer ye shall give the less inheritance: every man’s inheritance shall be in the place where his lot falleth; according to the tribes of your fathers ye shall inherit. 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. …

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
15:63; 16:10; Ex 23:29-33; Nu 33:52-56; Jud 1:27,28; Ro 6:12-14

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Joshua 17:11

    And Manasseh had in Issachar and in Asher Beth–shean and her towns, and Ibleam and her towns, and the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, and the inhabitants of Endor and her towns, and the inhabitants of Taanach and her towns, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns, even three countries.

  • Joshua 17:12

    Yet the children of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.

  • Joshua 17:13

    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.

Read all of Joshua 17

Joshua 17:12 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Mas los hijos de Manasés no pudieron echar á los de aquellas ciudades; antes el Cananeo quiso habitar en la tierra.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Mais les fils de Manassé ne purent pas déposséder les habitants de ces villes-là, et le Cananéen voulut habiter dans ce pays.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Aber die Kinder Manasse vermochten diese Städte nicht in Besitz zu nehmen, und die Kanaaniter wollten in diesem Lande bleiben.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Nec potuerunt filii Manasse has civitates subvertere, sed cœpit Chananæus habitare in terra sua.