And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out.

And it came to pass, when Israel was waxed strong, that they put the Canaanites to taskwork, and did not utterly drive them out.

But after Israel was grown strong he made them tributaries, and would not destroy them.

When Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out.

And it came to pass, when Israel was waxen strong, that they put the Canaanites to taskwork, and did not utterly drive them out.

And it came to pass when Israel was strong, that they subjected the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly expel them.

and it cometh to pass, when Israel hath been strong, that he setteth the Canaanite to tribute, and hath not utterly dispossessed it.

And whenever Israel became strong, they put the Canaanites to forced work, without driving them out completely.

And it came to pass, when Israel was waxen strong, that they put the Canaanites to task-work, but did in no wise drive them out.

Then, after Israel had grown strong, he made them tributaries, but he was not willing to destroy them.

And it came to pass, when Israel was strong,.... All the tribes of Israel were become numerous, and able to drive the Canaanites out of the land everywhere, and particularly were able to assist Manasseh in expelling the Canaanites out of the above places, yet they did not; but all they did was:
that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out; which flowed from covetousness, and a love of ease; they did not care to be at the trouble of expelling them, as they found it turned more to their account and present advantage to make them tributaries; and this was true of the Israelites in general, and of the half tribe of Manasseh in particular; which, as Abarbinel thinks, is here respected.

As the Israelites grew strong, they made serfs of the Canaanites (see at Genesis 49:15). When this took place is not stated; but at all events, it was only done gradually in the course of the epoch of the judges, and not for the first time during the reign of Solomon, as Bertheau supposes on the ground of 1-Kings 9:20-22 and 1-Kings 4:12, without considering that even in the time of David the Israelites had already attained the highest power they ever possessed, and that there is nothing at variance with this in 1-Kings 4:12 and 1-Kings 9:20-22. For it by no means follows, from the appointment of a prefect by Solomon over the districts of Taanach, Megiddo, and Bethshean (1-Kings 4:12), that these districts had only been conquered by Solomon a short time before, when we bear in mind that Solomon appointed twelve such prefects over all Israel, to remit in regular order the national payments that were required for the maintenance of the regal court. Nor does it follow, that because Solomon employed the descendants of the Canaanites who were left in the land as tributary labourers in the erection of his great buildings, therefore he was the first who succeeded in compelling those Canaanites who were not exterminated when the land was conquered by Joshua, to pay tribute to the different tribes of Israel.