Verse 10 takes notice of the fact that the original inhabitants of Gezer were not driven out of their city, but that their descendants were still living there as slaves at the time of the writing of the account.

But they did not drive out the Canaanite who lived in Gezer may be translated, “But the people of Ephraim did not drive the Canaanites out of the city of Gezer,” by which who lived in is clearly implicit.

So the Canaanites have lived among the Ephraimites to this day may be translated, “That is why the Canaanites still live among the people of Ephraim.”

The Hebrew expression translated forced to work as slaves implies the lowest form of compulsory labor, that is, complete enslavement. The expression is used also at Genesis 49.15.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Newman, Barclay M. A Handbook on Joshua. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .