Spies Sent Out

¹⁹ Then, as the Lord our God commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites^(A) through all that vast and dreadful wilderness^(B) that you have seen, and so we reached Kadesh Barnea.^{(C) 20} Then I said to you, “You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us. ²¹ See, the Lord your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession^(D) of it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, told you. Do not be afraid;^(E) do not be discouraged.”^(F)

²² Then all of you came to me and said, “Let us send men ahead to spy^(G) out the land^(H) for us and bring back a report about the route we are to take and the towns we will come to.”

²³ The idea seemed good to me; so I selected^(I) twelve of you, one man from each tribe. ²⁴ They left and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshkol^(J) and explored it. ²⁵ Taking with them some of the fruit of the land, they brought it down to us and reported,^(K) “It is a good land^(L) that the Lord our God is giving us.”^(M)

Rebellion Against the Lord

²⁶ But you were unwilling to go up;^(N) you rebelled^(O) against the command of the Lord your God. ²⁷ You grumbled^(P) in your tents and said, “The Lord hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us. ²⁸ Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt in fear. They say, ‘The people are stronger and taller^(Q) than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites^(R) there.’”

²⁹ Then I said to you, “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid^(S) of them.^{(T) 30} The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight^(U) for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, ³¹ and in the wilderness. There you saw how the Lord your God carried^(V) you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.”^(W)

³² In spite of this,^(X) you did not trust^(Y) in the Lord your God, ³³ who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day,^(Z) to search^(AA) out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.