Verses 12-13 indicate that the same thing happened in those cities that happened elsewhere (see verses 15.63 and 16.10): the Israelites were unable to drive out the native Canaanites from those places and reduced them to a slave class. In verse 12 it should be made clear that the people living in those cities and the Canaanites are the same people. To accomplish this it may be necessary to translate “… were not able to drive out the Canaanites who lived in those cities, so the Canaanites….”

In Hebrew the verb did not drive out (Revised Standard Version “did not utterly drive … out”) is emphatic, and so the verse may be translated, “Later the Israelites became stronger, and they forced the Canaanites to work for them. But they still did not drive all the Canaanites out of the land.”

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 .