Places Not Conquered

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

^21 (A)I also will no longer drive out 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 the Lord to walk in it as their fathers ^[a]did, or not.” ²³ So the Lord allowed those nations to remain, not driving them out quickly; and He did not give them into the hand of Joshua.

Idolatry Leads to Servitude

3 ^(A)Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to test Israel by them (that is, all who had not ^[a]experienced any of the wars of Canaan; ² only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might ^[b]be taught war, ^[c]those who had not ^[d]experienced it formerly). ³ These nations are: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and ^(B)the Hivites who lived in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as ^[e]Lebo-hamath. ⁴ They were for ^[f](C)testing Israel, to find out if they would ^[g]obey the commandments of the Lord, which He had commanded their fathers ^[h]through Moses. ^5 (D)The sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; ⁶ and ^(E)they took their daughters for themselves as wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.