Numbers 13-15

English Standard Version

Spies Sent into Canaan

13 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²^(A)“Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.” ³So Moses sent them from ^(B)the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the people of Israel. ⁴And these were their names: From the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur; ⁵from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori; ⁶^(C)from the tribe of Judah, ^(D)Caleb the son of Jephunneh; ⁷from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph; ⁸from the tribe of Ephraim, ^(E)Hoshea the son of Nun; ⁹from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu; ¹⁰from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi; ¹¹from the tribe of Joseph (that is, from the tribe of Manasseh), Gaddi the son of Susi; ¹²from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli; ¹³from the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael; ¹⁴from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi; ¹⁵from the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi. ¹⁶These were the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called ^(F)Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.

¹⁷Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up into ^(G)the Negeb and go up into ^(H)the hill country, ¹⁸and see what the land is, and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, ¹⁹and whether the land that they dwell in is good or bad, and whether the cities that they dwell in are camps or strongholds, ²⁰and whether the land is ^(I)rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. ^(J)Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.

²¹So they went up and spied out the land ^(K)from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, ^(L)near Lebo-hamath. ²²They went up into ^(M)the Negeb and came to ^(N)Hebron. ^(O)Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the ^(P)descendants of Anak, were there. (^(Q)Hebron was built seven years before ^(R)Zoan in Egypt.) ²³And ^(S)they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs. ²⁴That place was called the Valley of Eshcol,^[a] because of the cluster that the people of Israel cut down from there.

Report of the Spies

²⁵At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. ²⁶And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at ^(T)Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. ²⁷And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It ^(U)flows with milk and honey, ^(V)and this is its fruit. ²⁸^(W)However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. ²⁹^(X)The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. ^(Y)And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.”

³⁰But ^(Z)Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” ³¹^(AA)Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” ³²So ^(AB)they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and ^(AC)all the people that we saw in it are of great height. ³³And there we saw the ^(AD)Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the ^(AE)Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves ^(AF)like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”

The People Rebel

14 Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people ^(AG)wept that night. ²And all the people of Israel ^(AH)grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or ^(AI)would that we had died in this wilderness! ³Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? ^(AJ)Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” ⁴And they said to one another, ^(AK)“Let us choose a leader and ^(AL)go back to Egypt.”

⁵Then ^(AM)Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel. ⁶^(AN)And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes ⁷and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, ^(AO)“The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. ⁸If ^(AP)the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, ^(AQ)a land that flows with milk and honey. ⁹Only ^(AR)do not rebel against the Lord. And ^(AS)do not fear the people of the land, for ^(AT)they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” ¹⁰^(AU)Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But ^(AV)the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel.

¹¹And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people ^(AW)despise me? And how long will they not ^(AX)believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? ¹²I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I ^(AY)will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

Moses Intercedes for the People

¹³But ^(AZ)Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them, ¹⁴and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. ^(BA)They have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people. For you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and ^(BB)your cloud stands over them and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. ¹⁵Now if you kill this people as one man, then the nations who have heard your fame will say, ¹⁶‘It is because the Lord ^(BC)was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give to them that he has killed them in the wilderness.’ ¹⁷And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, ¹⁸^(BD)‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, ^(BE)visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ ¹⁹Please ^(BF)pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just ^(BG)as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.”

God Promises Judgment

²⁰Then the Lord said, “I have pardoned, ^(BH)according to your word. ²¹But truly, as I live, and as all ^(BI)the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, ²²^(BJ)none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ^(BK)ten times and have not obeyed my voice, ²³^(BL)shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it. ²⁴But my servant ^(BM)Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has ^(BN)followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it. ²⁵^(BO)Now, since the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valleys, ^(BP)turn tomorrow and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”

²⁶And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ²⁷“How long shall ^(BQ)this wicked congregation grumble against me? ^(BR)I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. ²⁸Say to them, ^(BS)‘As I live, declares the Lord, ^(BT)what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: ²⁹^(BU)your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and ^(BV)of all your number, listed in the census ^(BW)from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, ³⁰not one shall come into the land where I ^(BX)swore that I would make you dwell, ^(BY)except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. ³¹^(BZ)But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that ^(CA)you have rejected. ³²But as for you, ^(CB)your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. ³³And your children ^(CC)shall be shepherds in the wilderness ^(CD)forty years and shall ^(CE)suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. ³⁴^(CF)According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, ^(CG)forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’ ³⁵^(CH)I, the Lord, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all ^(CI)this wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.”

³⁶^(CJ)And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land— ³⁷the men who brought up a bad report of the land—^(CK)died by plague before the Lord. ³⁸Of those men who went to spy out the land, ^(CL)only Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive.

Israel Defeated in Battle

³⁹When Moses told these words to all the people of Israel, the people ^(CM)mourned greatly. ⁴⁰And they rose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country, saying, ^(CN)“Here we are. We will go up to the place that the Lord has promised, for we have sinned.” ⁴¹^(CO)But Moses said, “Why now are you transgressing the command of the Lord, when that will not succeed? ⁴²^(CP)Do not go up, ^(CQ)for the Lord is not among you, lest you be struck down before your enemies. ⁴³For there ^(CR)the Amalekites and the Canaanites are facing you, and you shall fall by the sword. Because you have turned back from following the Lord, the Lord will not be with you.” ⁴⁴^(CS)But they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, although neither ^(CT)the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses departed out of the camp. ⁴⁵Then ^(CU)the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them and pursued them, even to ^(CV)Hormah.

Laws About Sacrifices

15 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ^(CW)When you come into the land you are to inhabit, which I am giving you, ³and ^(CX)you offer to the Lord from the herd or from the flock a food offering^[b] or a burnt offering or a sacrifice, ^(CY)to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering or ^(CZ)at your appointed feasts, to make a ^(DA)pleasing aroma to the Lord, ⁴then ^(DB)he who brings his offering shall offer to the Lord ^(DC)a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah^[c] of fine flour, ^(DD)mixed with a quarter of a hin^[d] of oil; ⁵and you shall offer with the burnt offering, or for the sacrifice, a quarter of a hin of ^(DE)wine for the drink offering for each lamb. ⁶^(DF)Or for a ram, you shall offer for a grain offering two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a third of a hin of oil. ⁷And for the drink offering you shall offer a third of a hin of wine, a ^(DG)pleasing aroma to the Lord. ⁸And when you offer a bull as a burnt offering or sacrifice, to ^(DH)fulfill a vow or for ^(DI)peace offerings to the Lord, ⁹then one shall offer ^(DJ)with the bull a grain offering of three tenths of an ephah of fine flour, mixed with half a hin of oil. ¹⁰And you shall offer for the drink offering half a hin of wine, as a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

¹¹^(DK)“Thus it shall be done for each bull or ram, or for each lamb or young goat. ¹²As many as you offer, so shall you do with each one, as many as there are. ¹³Every native Israelite shall do these things in this way, in offering a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. ¹⁴And if a stranger is sojourning with you, or anyone is living permanently among you, and he wishes to offer a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord, he shall do as you do. ¹⁵For the assembly, ^(DL)there shall be one statute for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you, a statute forever throughout your generations. You and the sojourner shall be alike before the Lord. ¹⁶One law and one rule shall be for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you.”

¹⁷The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁸^(DM)“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land to which I bring you ¹⁹and when you eat of ^(DN)the bread of the land, you shall present a contribution to the Lord. ²⁰^(DO)Of the first of your dough you shall present a loaf as a contribution; like a ^(DP)contribution from the threshing floor, so shall you present it. ²¹^(DQ)Some of the first of your dough you shall give to the Lord as a contribution throughout your generations.

Laws About Unintentional Sins

²²^(DR)“But if you sin unintentionally,^[e] and do not observe all these commandments that the Lord has spoken to Moses, ²³all that the Lord has commanded you by Moses, from the day that the Lord gave commandment, and onward throughout your generations, ²⁴then if it was done unintentionally ^(DS)without the knowledge of the congregation, all the congregation shall offer one bull from the herd for a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma to the Lord, ^(DT)with its grain offering and its drink offering, according to the rule, and ^(DU)one male goat for a sin offering. ²⁵^(DV)And the priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the people of Israel, and they shall be forgiven, because it was a mistake, and they have brought their offering, a food offering to the Lord, and their sin offering before the Lord for their mistake. ²⁶And all the congregation of the people of Israel shall be forgiven, and the stranger who sojourns among them, because the whole population was involved in the mistake.

²⁷^(DW)“If one person sins unintentionally, he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering. ²⁸^(DX)And the priest shall make atonement before the Lord for the person who makes a mistake, when he sins unintentionally, to make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven. ²⁹^(DY)You shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally, for him who is native among the people of Israel and for the stranger who sojourns among them. ³⁰^(DZ)But the person who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native or a sojourner, reviles the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from among his people. ³¹Because he has ^(EA)despised the word of the Lord and has broken his commandment, that person shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be on him.”

A Sabbathbreaker Executed

³²While the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man ^(EB)gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. ³³And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation. ³⁴^(EC)They put him in custody, because it had not been made clear what should be done to him. ³⁵And the Lord said to Moses, ^(ED)“The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall ^(EE)stone him with stones outside the camp.” ³⁶And all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Tassels on Garments

³⁷The Lord said to Moses, ³⁸“Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to ^(EF)make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. ³⁹And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them, ^(EG)not to follow^[f] after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined ^(EH)to whore after. ⁴⁰So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be ^(EI)holy to your God. ⁴¹^(EJ)I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the Lord your God.”