Joshua 17:12-18

English Standard Version

^12 (A)Yet the people of Manasseh could not take possession of those cities, but the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land. ¹³ Now when the people of Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites ^(B)to forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out.

¹⁴ Then ^(C)the people of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, “Why have you given me but ^(D)one lot and one portion as an inheritance, although I am ^(E)a numerous people, since all along the Lord has blessed me?” ¹⁵ And Joshua said to them, “If you are a numerous people, go up by yourselves to the forest, and there clear ground for yourselves in the land of the Perizzites and ^(F)the Rephaim, since ^(G)the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you.” ¹⁶ The people of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough for us. Yet all the Canaanites who dwell in the plain have ^(H)chariots of iron, both those in Beth-shean and its villages and those in ^(I)the Valley of Jezreel.” ¹⁷ Then Joshua said to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, “You are a numerous people and have great power. You shall not have one allotment only, ¹⁸ but the hill country shall be yours, for though it is a forest, you shall clear it and possess it to its farthest borders. For you shall drive out the Canaanites, ^(J)though they have chariots of iron, and though they are strong.”