Numbers 13
New American Standard Bible 1995
Spies View the Land
13 Then (A)the Lord spoke to Moses saying, 2 “(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.” 3 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. 4 These then were their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur; 5 from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori; 6 from the tribe of Judah, (C)Caleb the son of Jephunneh; 7 from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph; 8 from the tribe of Ephraim, (D)Hoshea the son of Nun; 9 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, 26 they proceeded to come to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel [l]in the wilderness of Paran, at (P)Kadesh; and they brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 Thus they told him, and said, “We went in to the land where you sent us; and (Q)it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and (R)this is its fruit. 28 Nevertheless, (S)the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large; and moreover, we saw (T)the [m]descendants of Anak there. 29 Amalek is living in the land of (U)the Negev and the Hittites and the Jebusites and (V)the Amorites are living in the hill country, and (W)the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan.”
30 Then Caleb quieted the people [n]before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it.” 31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “(X)We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us.” 32 So they gave out to the sons of Israel (Y)a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is (Z)a land that devours its [o]inhabitants; and (AA)all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. 33 There also we saw the (AB)Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and (AC)we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
Footnotes
- Numbers 13:3 Lit mouth
- Numbers 13:17 Lit here
- Numbers 13:17 I.e. South country, and so throughout the ch
- Numbers 13:19 Lit in
- Numbers 13:20 Lit Use your strength
- Numbers 13:21 Or to the entrance of Hamath
- Numbers 13:22 Lit Most mss read one came
- Numbers 13:22 Lit children
- Numbers 13:23 Or wadi
- Numbers 13:23 I.e. cluster
- Numbers 13:24 I.e. cluster
- Numbers 13:26 Lit to
- Numbers 13:28 Lit born ones
- Numbers 13:30 Lit toward
- Numbers 13:32 Or settlers
Numbers 13
Contemporary English Version
Twelve Men Are Sent into Canaan
(Deuteronomy 1.19-33)
13 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Choose a leader from each tribe and send them into Canaan to explore the land I am giving you.”
3 So Moses sent twelve tribal leaders from Israel's camp in the Paran Desert 4-16 with orders to explore the land of Canaan. And here are their names:
Shammua son of Zaccur
from Reuben,
Shaphat son of Hori
from Simeon,
Caleb son of Jephunneh
from Judah,
Igal son of Joseph
from Issachar,
Joshua son of Nun
from Ephraim,[a]
Palti son of Raphu
from Benjamin,
Gaddiel son of Sodi
from Zebulun,
Gaddi son of Susi
from Manasseh,
Ammiel son of Gemalli
from Dan,
Sethur son of Michael
from Asher,
Nahbi son of Vophsi
from Naphtali,
and Geuel son of Machi
from Gad.
17 Before Moses sent them into Canaan, he said:
After you go through the Southern Desert of Canaan, continue north into the hill country 18 and find out what those regions are like. Be sure to remember how many people live there, how strong they are, 19-20 and if they live in open towns or walled cities. See if the land is good for growing crops and find out what kinds of trees grow there. It's time for grapes to ripen, so try to bring back some of the fruit that grows there.
21 The twelve men left to explore Canaan from the Zin Desert in the south all the way to the town of Rehob near Lebo-Hamath in the north. 22 As they went through the Southern Desert, they came to the town of Hebron, which was seven years older than the Egyptian town of Zoan. In Hebron, they saw the three Anakim[b] clans of Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai. 23-24 When they got to Bunch Valley,[c] they cut off a branch with such a huge bunch of grapes, that it took two men to carry it on a pole. That's why the place was called Bunch Valley. Along with the grapes, they also took back pomegranates[d] and figs.
The Men Report Back to the People
25 After exploring the land of Canaan for 40 days, 26 the twelve men returned to Kadesh in the Paran Desert and told Moses, Aaron, and the people what they had seen. They showed them the fruit 27 and said:
Look at this fruit! The land we explored is rich with milk and honey. 28 But the people who live there are strong, and their cities are large and walled. We even saw the three Anakim[e] clans. 29 Besides that, the Amalekites live in the Southern Desert; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites are in the hill country; and the Canaanites[f] live along the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.
30 Caleb calmed down the crowd and said, “Let's go and take the land. I know we can do it!”
31 But the other men replied, “Those people are much too strong for us.” 32 Then they started spreading rumors and saying, “We won't be able to grow anything in that soil. And the people are like giants. 33 (A) In fact, we saw the Nephilim who are the ancestors of the Anakim. They were so big that we felt as small as grasshoppers.”
Footnotes
- 13.4-16 Joshua … Ephraim: Hebrew “Hoshea son of Nun from Ephraim; Moses renamed him Joshua.”
- 13.22 Anakim: Perhaps a group of very large people (see Deuteronomy 2.10,11, 20,21).
- 13.23,24 Bunch Valley: Or “Eshcol Valley.”
- 13.23,24 pomegranates: A bright red fruit that looks like an apple.
- 13.28 Anakim: See the note at 13.22.
- 13.29 Amalekites … Hittites … Jebusites … Amorites … Canaanites: These people lived in Canaan before the Israelites.
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