Numbers 13:32-33

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Numbers 13:32 tn Or “an evil report,” i.e., one that was a defamation of the grace of God.
2. Numbers 13:32 tn Heb “which we passed over in it”; the pronoun on the preposition serves as a resumptive pronoun for the relative, and need not be translated literally.
3. Numbers 13:32 tn The verb is the feminine singular participle from אָכַל (ʾakhal); it modifies the land as a “devouring land,” a bold figure for the difficulty of living in the place.
4. Numbers 13:32 sn The expression has been interpreted in a number of ways by commentators, such as that the land was infertile, that the Canaanites were cannibals, that it was a land filled with warlike dissensions, or that it denotes a land geared for battle. It may be that they intended the land to seem infertile and insecure.
5. Numbers 13:32 tn Heb “in its midst.”
6. Numbers 13:33 tc The Greek version uses γίγαντας (gigantas, “giants”) to translate “the Nephilim,” but it does not retain the clause “the sons of Anak are from the Nephilim.”sn The Nephilim are the legendary giants of antiquity. They are first discussed in Gen 6:4. This forms part of the pessimism of the spies’ report.
7. Numbers 13:33 tn Heb “in our eyes.”
8. Numbers 13:33 tn Heb “in their eyes.”