Israel Fails to Complete the Conquest

^27 (A)But Manasseh did not take possession of Beth-shean and its towns or Taanach and its towns or the inhabitants of Dor and its towns or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its towns or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns; so ^(B)the Canaanites persisted to live in that land.

^21 (A)I also will no longer dispossess before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, ²² in order to ^(B)test Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of Yahweh to walk in it as their fathers ^[a]did, or not.” ²³ So Yahweh allowed those nations to rest, not dispossessing them quickly; and He did not give them into the hand of Joshua.

Yahweh Tests Israel

3 ^(C)Now these are the nations which Yahweh allowed to remain, to test Israel by them (that is, all who had not known any of the wars of Canaan; ^2 [b]however, God tested them in order that the generations of the sons of Israel would know war, by learning war, ^[c]especially those who had not known it formerly). ³ These nations are: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and ^(D)the Hivites who lived in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as ^[d]Lebo-hamath. ⁴ And they were for ^[e](E)testing Israel, to know if they would ^[f]obey the commandments of Yahweh, which He had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. ^5 (F)Now the sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; ⁶ and ^(G)they took their daughters for themselves as wives and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods.