Numbers 13
Expanded Bible
The Spies Explore Canaan
13 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Send men to ·explore [spy on] the land of Canaan, which I will give to the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel]. Send one leader from each tribe [Deut. 1:19–46].”
3 So Moses obeyed the Lord’s command and sent the ·Israelite leaders [L leaders of the sons/T children of Israel] out from the ·Desert [Wilderness] of Paran. 4 These are 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 son of Joseph; 8 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 from the tribe of Manasseh (a tribe of Joseph), 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 Maki.
16 These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the new name Joshua.)
17 Moses sent them to ·explore [spy on] Canaan and said, “Go through ·southern Canaan [the Negev] and then into the mountains. 18 See what the land looks like. Are the people who live there strong or weak? Are there a few or many? 19 What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What about the towns they live in—are they ·open like camps [unwalled], or do they have walls? 20 What about the soil? Is it ·fertile [rich] or poor? ·Are there trees there [L Does it have trees or not]? ·Try to [or Be courageous and] bring back some of the fruit from that land.” (It was the season for the first grapes.)
21 So they went up and ·explored [spied on] the land, from the ·Desert [Wilderness] of Zin all the way to Rehob by Lebo Hamath. 22 They went through the ·southern area [Negev] to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai [Josh. 15:14; Judg. 1:10; 1 Chr. 9:17], the descendants of Anak lived [Deut. 1:28; 2:10–11, 21; 9:2; Josh. 11:21–22]. (The city of Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 23 In the Valley of Eshcol, they cut off a branch of a grapevine that had one bunch of grapes on it and carried that branch on a pole between two of them. They also got some pomegranates and figs. 24 That place was called the Valley of Eshcol [C “Bunch”], because the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] cut off the bunch of grapes there. 25 After forty days of ·exploring [spying on] the land, the men returned to the camp.
26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and all the ·Israelites [L community/congregation/assembly of the sons/T children of Israel] at Kadesh, in the ·Desert [Wilderness] of Paran. The men reported to them and showed ·everybody [L all the community/congregation/assembly] the fruit from the land. 27 They ·told [reported to] Moses, “We went to the land where you sent us, and it is a ·fertile land [L land flowing with milk and honey; Ex. 3:8]! Here is some of its fruit. 28 But the people who live there are strong. Their cities are walled and very large. We even saw some Anakites there. 29 The Amalekites live in the ·southern area [Negev; Ex. 17:8–16]; the Hittites, Jebusites [C inhabitants in and around Jerusalem], and Amorites live in the mountains; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan River.”
30 Then Caleb told the people near Moses to be quiet, and he said, “We should certainly go up and take the land for ourselves. We can certainly do it.”
31 But the men who had gone with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32 And those men gave the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] a bad report about the land they ·explored [spied on], saying, “The land that we ·explored [spied on] ·is too large to conquer [L devours its inhabitants]. All the people we saw are very tall. 33 We saw the Nephilim people there [C perhaps named for the pre-flood people mentioned in Gen. 6:4]. (The Anakites come from the Nephilim people.) We felt like grasshoppers, and we looked like grasshoppers to them.”
Numbers 13
The Message
Scouting Out Canaan
13 1-2 God spoke to Moses: “Send men to scout out the country of Canaan that I am giving to the People of Israel. Send one man from each ancestral tribe, each one a tried-and-true leader in the tribe.”
3-15 So Moses sent them off from the Wilderness of Paran at the command of God. All of them were leaders in Israel, one from each tribe. These were their names:
from Reuben: Shammua son of Zaccur
from Simeon: Shaphat son of Hori
from Judah: Caleb son of Jephunneh
from Issachar: Igal son of Joseph
from Ephraim: Hoshea son of Nun
from Benjamin: Palti son of Raphu
from Zebulun: Gaddiel son of Sodi
from Manasseh (a Joseph tribe): Gaddi son of Susi
from Dan: Ammiel son of Gemalli
from Asher: Sethur son of Michael
from Naphtali: Nahbi son of Vophsi
from Gad: Geuel son of Maki.
16 These are the names of the men Moses sent to scout out the land. Moses gave Hoshea (Salvation) son of Nun a new name—Joshua (God-Saves).
17-20 When Moses sent them off to scout out Canaan, he said, “Go up through the Negev and then into the hill country. Look the land over, see what it is like. Assess the people: Are they strong or weak? Are there few or many? Observe the land: Is it pleasant or harsh? Describe the towns where they live: Are they open camps or fortified with walls? And the soil: Is it fertile or barren? Are there forests? And try to bring back a sample of the produce that grows there—this is the season for the first ripe grapes.”
21-25 With that they were on their way. They scouted out the land from the Wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob toward Lebo Hamath. Their route went through the Negev Desert to the town of Hebron. Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, descendants of the giant Anak, lived there. Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt. When they arrived at the Eshcol Valley they cut off a branch with a single cluster of grapes—it took two men to carry it—slung on a pole. They also picked some pomegranates and figs. They named the place Eshcol Valley (Grape-Cluster-Valley) because of the huge cluster of grapes they had cut down there. After forty days of scouting out the land, they returned home.
26-27 They presented themselves before Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation of the People of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They reported to the whole congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. Then they told the story of their trip:
27-29 “We went to the land to which you sent us and, oh! It does flow with milk and honey! Just look at this fruit! The only thing is that the people who live there are fierce, their cities are huge and well fortified. Worse yet, we saw descendants of the giant Anak. Amalekites are spread out in the Negev; Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites hold the hill country; and the Canaanites are established on the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan.”
30 Caleb interrupted, called for silence before Moses and said, “Let’s go up and take the land—now. We can do it.”
31-33 But the others said, “We can’t attack those people; they’re way stronger than we are.” They spread scary rumors among the People of Israel. They said, “We scouted out the land from one end to the other—it’s a land that swallows people whole. Everybody we saw was huge. Why, we even saw the Nephilim giants (the Anak giants come from the Nephilim). Alongside them we felt like grasshoppers. And they looked down on us as if we were grasshoppers.”
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