Spies View the Land

13 Then (A)the Lord spoke to Moses saying, (B)Send out for yourself men so that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give to the sons of Israel; you shall send a man from each of their fathers’ tribes, every one a leader among them.” So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the [a]command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the sons of Israel. These then were their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur; from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori; from the tribe of Judah, (C)Caleb the son of Jephunneh; from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph; from the tribe of Ephraim, (D)Hoshea the son of Nun; from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu; 10 from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi; 11 from the tribe of Joseph, from the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi; 12 from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli; 13 from the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael; 14 from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi; 15 from the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi. 16 These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land; but Moses called (E)Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua.

17 When Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, he said to them, “Go up [b]there into (F)the [c]Negev; then go up into the hill country. 18 See what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many. 19 How is the land in which they live, is it good or bad? And how are the cities in which they live, are they [d]like open camps or with fortifications? 20 (G)How is the land, is it fat or lean? Are there trees in it or not? [e]Make an (H)effort then to get some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes.

21 So they went up and spied out the land from (I)the wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, [f](J)at Lebo-hamath. 22 When they had gone up into (K)the Negev, [g]they came to Hebron where (L)Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the [h]descendants of (M)Anak were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before (N)Zoan in Egypt.)

23 Then they came to the [i]valley of [j](O)Eshcol and from there cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes; and they carried it on a pole between two men, with some of the pomegranates and the figs. 24 That place was called the valley of [k]Eshcol, because of the cluster which the sons of Israel cut down from there.

The Spies’ Reports

25 When they returned from spying out the land, at the end of forty days,

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 13:3 Lit mouth
  2. Numbers 13:17 Lit here
  3. Numbers 13:17 I.e. South country, and so throughout the ch
  4. Numbers 13:19 Lit in
  5. Numbers 13:20 Lit Use your strength
  6. Numbers 13:21 Or to the entrance of Hamath
  7. Numbers 13:22 Lit Most mss read one came
  8. Numbers 13:22 Lit children
  9. Numbers 13:23 Or wadi
  10. Numbers 13:23 I.e. cluster
  11. Numbers 13:24 I.e. cluster