Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageYet the people of Manasseh could not take possession of those cities; the Canaanites persisted in holding that land.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GYet the sons of Menashe could not dispossess those cities; the Kena'anites held their ground in that land.
KJV
King James VersionYet the children of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleBut the descendants of Manasseh were unable to occupy these cities, because the Canaanites were determined to stay in this land.
Footnotes
The verb *yakol* ('could') used negatively — 'could not' — leaves the cause deliberately ambiguous. Was this military inability, or a failure of will? The text does not say. Verse 16 begins to answer it: the iron chariots explain *what* Manasseh feared; but Joshua's response in verses 17–18 exposes *why* the fear was inexcusable. The same refrain echoes across Judges 1, building into a structural indictment of a generation that secured the land in broad strokes but failed to complete the covenant task in its particulars.