Numbers 13
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
13 And the people marched from Haseroth, and pitched their tents in the desert of Pharan.
2 And there the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
3 Send men to view the land of Chanaan, which I will give to the children of Israel, one of every tribe, of the rulers.
4 Moses did what the Lord had commanded, sending from the desert of Pharan, principal men, whose names are these:
5 Of the tribe of Ruben, Sammua the son of Zechur.
6 Of the tribe of Simeon, Saphat the son of Hurl.
7 Of the tribe of Juda, Caleb the son of Jephone.
8 Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph.
9 Of the tribe of Ephraim, Osee the son of Nun.
10 Of the tribe of Benjamin, Phalti the son of Raphu.
11 Of the tribe of Zabulon, Geddiel the son of Sodi.
12 Of the tribe of Joseph, of the sceptre of Manasses, Gaddi the son of Susi.
13 Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli.
14 Of the tribe of Aser, Sthur the son of Michael.
15 Of the tribe of Nephtali, Nahabi the son of Vapsi.
16 Of the tribe of Gad, Guel the son of Machi.
17 These are the names of the men, whom Moses sent to view the land: and he called Osee the son of Nun, Josue.
18 And Moses sent them to view the land of Chanaan, and said to them: Go you up by the south side. And when you shall come to the mountains,
19 View the land, of what sort it is: and the people that are the inhabitants thereof, whether they be strong or weak: few in number or many:
20 The land itself, whether it be good or bad: what manner of cities, walled or without walls:
21 The ground, fat or barren, woody or without trees. Be of good courage, and bring us of the fruits of the land. Now it was the time when the first ripe grapes are fit to be eaten.
22 And when they were gone up, they viewed the land from the desert of Sin, unto Rohob as you enter into Emath.
23 And they went up at the south side, and came to Hebron, where were Achiman and Sisai and Tholmai the sons of Enac. For Hebron was built seven years before Tanis the city of Egypt.
24 And going forward as far as the torrent of the cluster of grapes, they cut off a branch with its cluster of grapes, which two men carried upon a lever. They took also of the pomegranates and of the figs of that place:
25 Which was called Nehelescol, that is to say, the torrent of the cluster of grapes, because from thence the children of Israel had carried a cluster of grapes.
26 And they that went to spy out the land returned after forty days, having gone round all the country,
27 And came to Moses and Aaron and to all the assembly of the children of Israel to the desert of Pharan, which is in Cades. And speaking to them and to all the multitude, they shewed them the fruits of the land:
28 And they related and said: We came into the land to which thou sentest us, which in very deed floweth with milk and honey as may be known by these fruits:
29 But it hath very strong inhabitants, and the cities are great and walled. We saw there the race of Enac.
30 Amalec dwelleth in the south, the Hethite and the Jebusite and the Amorrhite in the mountains: but the Chanaanite abideth by the sea and near the streams of the Jordan.
31 In the mean time Caleb, to still the murmuring of the people that rose against Moses, said: Let us go up and possess the land, for we shall be able to conquer it.
32 But the others, that had been with him, said: No, we are not able to go up to this people, because they are stronger than we.
33 And they spoke ill of the land, which they had viewed, before the children of Israel, saying: The land which we have viewed, devoureth its inhabitants: the people, that we beheld, are of a tall stature.
34 There we saw certain monsters of the sons of Enac, of the giant kind: in comparison of whom, we seemed like locusts.
Numbers 13
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 13
The Twelve Scouts. 1 The Lord said to Moses: 2 Send men to reconnoiter the land of Canaan, which I am giving the Israelites. You shall send one man from each ancestral tribe, every one a leader among them. 3 (A)So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, at the direction of the Lord. All of them were leaders among the Israelites. 4 These were their names:
from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua, son of Zaccur;
5 from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat, son of Hori;
6 from the tribe of Judah, Caleb, son of Jephunneh;
7 from the tribe of Issachar, Igal;
8 for the Josephites, from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea, son of Nun;
9 from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti, son of Raphu;
10 from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel, son of Sodi;
11 for the Josephites, from the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi, son of Susi;
12 from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel, son of Gemalli;
13 from the tribe of Asher, Sethur, son of Michael;
14 from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi, son of Vophsi;
15 from the tribe of Gad, Geuel, son of Machi.
16 These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to reconnoiter the land. But Hoshea, son of Nun, Moses called Joshua.[a]
17 In sending them to reconnoiter the land of Canaan, Moses said to them, “Go up there in the Negeb, up into the highlands, 18 and see what kind of land it is and whether the people living there are strong or weak, few or many. 19 Is the country in which they live good or bad? Are the towns in which they dwell open or fortified? 20 Is the soil fertile or barren, wooded or clear? And do your best to get some of the fruit of the land.” It was then the season for early grapes.
21 So they went up and reconnoitered the land from the wilderness of Zin[b] as far as where Rehob adjoins Lebo-hamath. 22 (B)Going up by way of the Negeb, they reached Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, descendants of the Anakim,[c] were. (Now Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 23 They also reached the Wadi Eshcol,[d] where they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes on it, which two of them carried on a pole, as well as some pomegranates and figs. 24 It was because of the cluster the Israelites cut there that they called the place Wadi Eshcol.(C)
Their Report. 25 They returned from reconnoitering the land forty days later. 26 (D)Proceeding directly to Moses and Aaron and the whole community of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh, they made a report to them and to the whole community, showing them the fruit of the land. 27 They told Moses: “We came to the land to which you sent us. It does indeed flow with milk and honey, and here is its fruit. 28 However, the people who are living in the land are powerful, and the towns are fortified and very large.(E) Besides, we saw descendants of the Anakim there. 29 Amalekites live in the region of the Negeb; Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites dwell in the highlands, and Canaanites along the sea and the banks of the Jordan.”
30 Caleb, however, quieted the people before Moses and said, “We ought to go up and seize the land, for we can certainly prevail over it.” 31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We cannot attack these people; they are too strong for us.” 32 They spread discouraging reports(F) among the Israelites about the land they had reconnoitered, saying, “The land that we went through and reconnoitered is a land that consumes its inhabitants. And all the people we saw there are huge. 33 (G)There we saw the Nephilim[e] (the Anakim are from the Nephilim); in our own eyes we seemed like mere grasshoppers, and so we must have seemed to them.”
Footnotes
- 13:16 Joshua: in Hebrew, “Jehoshua,” which was later modified to “Jeshua,” the Hebrew name for “Jesus.” Hoshea and Joshua are variants of one original name meaning “the Lord saves.” Cf. Mt 1:21.
- 13:21 The wilderness of Zin: north of Paran and southwest of the Dead Sea. It is quite distinct from “the wilderness of Sin” near the border of Egypt (Ex 16:1; 17:1; Nm 33:11). Lebo-hamath: a town near Riblah (Jer 39:5–6) at the southern border of Hamath, an independent kingdom in southern Syria. David’s conquests extended as far as Hamath (2 Sm 8:9–11), and Lebo-hamath thus formed the northern border of the ideal extent of Israel’s possessions (Nm 34:7–9; Ez 47:15; 48:1). This may suggest that this verse was inserted precisely to extend the scope of the reconnaissance; cf. Dt 1:24.
- 13:22, 28 Anakim: an aboriginal race in southern Palestine, largely absorbed by the Canaanites. Either because of their tall stature or because of the massive stone structures left by them, the Israelites regarded them as giants.
- 13:23 Eshcol: means “cluster.”
- 13:33 Nephilim: i.e., “fallen ones” (in the Septuagint, “giants”), a reference to fallen heroes of old. Cf. Gn 6:4.
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