Joshua encourages the people of Ephraim and West Manasseh, telling them that they will be able to defeat the Canaanites, despite their superior armament.

In Hebrew There are indeed many of you is joined to you are very powerful by the conjunction and, as Good News Translation indicates. However, it is quite possible that the function of and in such a structure is to indicate that the clause which follows expresses either a cause or a result. In other words, Joshua says that the strength of the tribes of Ephraim and West Manasseh lies in the large number of people in their tribes. So one may translate “There are indeed many people in your tribes, and for that reason you are very powerful.”

You shall have more than one share. 18 The hill country will be yours may be translated, “I will give you more than one share. 18 I will give you the hill country as well.”

In order to avoid the Even though construction, the second sentence of verse 18 may be translated, “This land is a forest, but you will (be able to) take possession of it and clear it from one end to the other.” In this proposed restructuring it should be noticed that the verbs clear and take possession of are given in reverse order so as to indicate logical sequence.

As for the Canaanites, you will drive them out is a difficult structure which may be simplified: “You will drive out all the Canaanites, even though they do have iron chariots and are a strong people.” Or the two clauses may be reversed: “The Canaanites do indeed have iron chariots and they are a strong people. But you will (be able to) drive them out of their 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 .