Parashat Shlach

Twelve Scouts and the Bad Report

13 Adonai spoke to Moses saying, ² “Send some men on your behalf to investigate the land of Canaan, which I am giving to Bnei-Yisrael. Each man you are to send will be a prince of the tribe of his fathers, a man from each tribe.”

³ So according to the word of Adonai, Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran. All the men were princes of Bnei-Yisrael. 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, part of the 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 Machi.

¹⁶ These are the names of the men Moses sent to investigate the land. (Now he gave Hoshea son of Nun, the name Joshua.) ¹⁷ As he sent them to explore the land of Canaan, he said to them, “Go up there through the Negev, then go up into the hill country. ¹⁸ See what the land is like and the people living there, whether they might be strong or weak, few or many. ¹⁹ In what kind of land are they living? Is it good or bad? Also, what about the cities in which they are living? Are they unwalled or do they have fortifications? ²⁰ How is the soil—fertile or poor? Are there trees on it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)

²¹ So they went up and explored the land from the wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob the entrance of Hamath. ²² They continued on up through the Negev and came to Hebron. There lived Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, descendants of Anak. (Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

²³ When they reached as far as the Valley of Eshcol, they cut a single branch with a cluster of grapes. It was carried on a pole between two of them. They also cut some pomegranates and some figs. ²⁴ That place was called the Valley of Eshcol because of the cluster cut by Bnei-Yisrael. ²⁵ They returned from investigating the land after 40 days.

²⁶ They traveled and returned to Moses, Aaron and the entire community of Bnei-Yisrael at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran. They gave their report to them and the entire assembly. They showed the land’s fruit. ²⁷ They gave their account to him and said, “We went into the land where you sent us. Indeed it is flowing with milk and honey—this is some of its fruit. ²⁸ Except, the people living in the land are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw the sons of Anak there! ²⁹ Amalek is living in the land of the Negev, the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites are living in the mountains, and the Canaanites are living near the sea and along the bank of the Jordan.”

³⁰ Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “We should definitely go up and capture the land, for we can certainly do it!”

³¹ But the men who had gone up with him said, “We cannot attack these people, because they are stronger than we.” ³² They spread among Bnei-Yisrael a bad report about the land they had explored, saying, “The land through which we passed to explore devours its residents. All the people we saw there are men of great size! ³³ We also saw there the Nephilim. (The sons of Anak are from the Nephilim.) We seemed like grasshoppers in our eyes as well as theirs!”

Grumblers Will Not Enter the Land

14 All through that night, the entire community raised up their voices. The people wept. ² All Bnei-Yisrael grumbled against Moses and Aaron and the whole community said, “If only we had died in Egypt! If only we had died in this wilderness! ³ Why is Adonai bringing us to this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be like plunder! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?”

⁴ They said to each other, “Let’s choose a leader and let’s go back to Egypt!”

⁵ Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the entire assembly of the community of Bnei-Yisrael. ⁶ Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes. ⁷ They said to the whole assembly of Bnei-Yisrael, “The land through which we passed is an exceptionally good land! ⁸ If Adonai is pleased with us, He will lead us into that land and will give it to us—a land flowing with milk and honey. ⁹ Only don’t rebel against Adonai, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. They will be food for us. The protection over them is gone. Adonai is with us! Do not fear them.”

¹⁰ But the whole assembly talked about violently stoning them.

Then the glory of Adonai appeared at the Tent of Meeting to all Bnei-Yisrael. ¹¹ Adonai said to Moses, “How long will these people treat Me contemptibly? How long will they neglect to trust in Me—in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them? ¹² I will strike them with the plague. I will destroy them. But you I will make into a nation greater and stronger than they!”

¹³ Moses said to Adonai, “The Egyptians will hear about it, because You brought up this people by Your power from among them. ¹⁴ They will tell the residents of this land about it. Already they have heard that You, Adonai, are in the midst of this people, that You, Adonai, have been seen eye to eye, that Your cloud remains over them, and that in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night You go before them. ¹⁵ If you kill these people all at once, the nations who have heard this report about You will say, ¹⁶ ‘Because Adonai was unable to bring this people to the land He had promised them, He has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’

¹⁷ “So please, let Adonai show His strength, just as You have spoken saying, ¹⁸ ‘Adonai is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression. Still, He does not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations.’ ¹⁹ Forgive now the guiltiness of this people in accordance with the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You have pardoned this people from Egypt until now!”

²⁰ Adonai answered, “I have forgiven them just as you have spoken. ²¹ But as certainly as I live and as certainly as the glory of Adonai fills the entire earth, ²² none of the people who saw My glory and My miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness—yet tested Me these ten times and did not obey My Voice— ²³ not one of them will see the land I promised to their forefathers. None of those who treated Me with contempt will see it! ²⁴ However, My servant Caleb, because a different spirit is with him and he is wholeheartedly behind Me, I will bring him into the land where he went—his offspring will inherit it. ²⁵ Now since the Amalekites and Canaanites are inhabiting the valley, turn back tomorrow and set out by the wilderness route toward the Sea of Reeds.”

²⁶ Adonai then said to Moses and Aaron saying, ²⁷ “How long will this wicked community be grumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of Bnei-Yisrael grumbling against Me. ²⁸ So tell them, ‘As surely as I live,’ says Adonai, ‘I will do to you just as I heard you say in My ears. ²⁹ In this very wilderness your bodies will drop—every one of you 20 years of age and older who was numbered in the census and grumbled against Me. ³⁰ Not one of you will enter the land about which I lifted My hand to make home for you—except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

³¹ “As for your children—whom you said would be like plunder—I will bring them in and they will experience the land that you spurned. ³² But your bodies will drop in this wilderness. ³³ Your children will be herdsmen in the wilderness for 40 years. They will suffer because of your unfaithfulness until your corpses are consumed in the wilderness. ³⁴ For 40 years, corresponding to the number of the 40 days you explored the land—one year for each day—you will suffer for your iniquities and know My hostility. ³⁵ I, Adonai, have spoken and certainly will I do this to all this wicked community banding together against Me. In this wilderness they will meet their end and there they will die!”

³⁶ Then the men whom Moses had sent to explore the land, who had returned and caused the whole community to grumble against him by spreading a bad report about the land, ³⁷ these men, spreading the bad report about the land, died of the plague in Adonai’s presence. ³⁸ Of those men who had gone to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived.

³⁹ When Moses related these things to all of Bnei-Yisrael, the people mourned bitterly. ⁴⁰ They rose the next morning and went up to the high mountains, saying, “Look! Let’s go up to the place which Adonai promised. For we have sinned.”

⁴¹ But Moses said, “Why are you disobeying the mouth of Adonai? That will never succeed. ⁴² You should not go up, because Adonai will not be among you and you will be defeated before your enemies! ⁴³ For the Amalekites and Canaanites are there in front of you, and you will fall by the sword. Adonai will not be with you, because you turned away from following Adonai.”

⁴⁴ But presumptuously they went up to the high mountain country, though neither the Ark of Adonai’s covenant nor Moses moved from within the camp. ⁴⁵ The Amalekites and Canaanites living in the mountain country came down, attacked them, and beat them down all the way to Hormah.

Fragrant Aromas to Adonai

15 Again Adonai spoke to Moses saying, ² “Speak to Bnei-Yisrael and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you where you will make your homes, ³ and you are presenting a fire offering to Adonai—a burnt offering or a sacrifice to mark fulfilling a vow, a freewill offering, or during moadim^[a]—to present a pleasing aroma to Adonai, from the herd or from the flock, ⁴ the one bringing the offering is to present a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of oil.

⁵ “Now with each lamb for the burnt offering or sacrifice, you are to prepare a fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering. ⁶ With a ram, you are to prepare two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a third of a hin of oil, ⁷ and a third of a hin of wine as a drink offering. You are to offer it as a pleasing aroma to Adonai.

⁸ “Whenever you are to prepare a young bull for a burnt offering, a special vow offering, or a fellowship offering to Adonai, ⁹ bring with the young bull a grain offering of three tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with half a hin of oil. ¹⁰ You are to also offer as the drink offering half a hin of wine as a fire offering, a pleasing aroma to Adonai. ¹¹ This is to be done for each bull or ram, for each young goat or lamb. ¹² Do this for each one, for as many as you prepare.

¹³ “Everyone native-born is to do these things like so when bringing a fire offering as a pleasant aroma to Adonai. ¹⁴ Whenever an outsider resides with you, or whoever is among you for your generations to come, and he is to present a fire offering as a fragrant aroma to Adonai, as you do, he must do exactly the same as you are doing.

¹⁵ “The community will have the same rule for you as well as for the resident outsider. It will be a lasting statute throughout your generations. As for you, so for the outsider will it be before Adonai. ¹⁶ The same Torah and the same regulations will apply to both you and the outsider residing among you.”

¹⁷ Adonai spoke to Moses saying, ¹⁸ “Speak to Bnei-Yisrael. Say to them: When you enter the land to which I am taking you, ¹⁹ and you eat some of the food of the land, you are to offer a portion to Adonai. ²⁰ You are to offer a cake from the first of your ground-up meal as an offering from your threshing floor—so you are to lift it up. ²¹ Throughout your generations to come, you are to give this offering from the first of your ground-up meal.

Unintentional Versus Defiant Sin

²² “If you unintentionally fail, not keeping any of these mitzvot that Adonai related to Moses ²³ —that is, anything that Adonai commanded you through Moses’s hand, from the day Adonai commanded and onward throughout your generations— ²⁴ and it is done unintentionally out of sight of the community, then the entire community is to offer one young bull from the herd for a burnt offering as a pleasing aroma to Adonai, along with its appropriate grain offering and drink offering, and one male goat as a sin offering. ²⁵ So the kohen will make atonement for the entire community of Bnei-Yisrael, and they will be forgiven, for it was unintentional and they brought a fire offering and their sin offering to Adonai for their error. ²⁶ So the whole community of Bnei-Yisrael along with the outsider residing among them will be forgiven, for all the people were involved in unintentional wrongdoing.

²⁷ “If but one person should sin unintentionally, he is to bring a year-old female goat for a sin offering. ²⁸ The kohen is to make atonement before Adonai for that person who erred by sinning without intent, and he is to be forgiven when atonement has been made for him. ²⁹ Whether a native-born of Bnei-Yisrael or an outsider living among them, one Torah applies to you for the one sinning unintentionally.

³⁰ “But the person who sins defiantly, whether native or outsider, reviles Adonai and that person is to be cut off from his people. ³¹ Because he has despised the word of Adonai and has broken His commandment, that person will certainly be cut off—his guilt will remain on him.”

³² While Bnei-Yisrael were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the Shabbat.

³³ Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses, Aaron and the entire assembly. ³⁴ They kept him under arrest, not being clear what was to be done to him.

³⁵ Adonai said to Moses, “The man has to die. The whole assembly is to stone him with stones outside the camp.” ³⁶ So the whole assembly took him outside the camp. They stoned him with stones. He died just as Adonai commanded Moses.

Tzitzit for Holiness

³⁷ Adonai spoke to Moses saying, ³⁸ “Speak to Bnei-Yisrael. Say to them that they are to make for themselves tzitzit on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and they are to put a blue cord on each tzitzit. ^{[b] 39} It will be your own tzitzit—so whenever you look at them, you will remember all the mitzvot of Adonai and do them and not go spying out after your own hearts and your own eyes, prostituting yourselves. ⁴⁰ This way you will remember and obey all My mitzvot and you will be holy to your God. ⁴¹ I am Adonai your God. I brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am Adonai your God.”

Rahab’s Faith

2 Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent out two spies from Shittim saying: “Go, explore the land, especially Jericho.” So they went and came to the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and lodged there.^[a]

² The king of Jericho was told, “Some men from Bnei-Yisrael have just come here tonight to spy out the land.”

³ So the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab saying: “Bring out the men who came to you, who entered your house—for they have come to spy out all the land.”

⁴ But the woman took the two men and hid them, and said: “Yes, the men did come to me, but I didn’t know where they were from. ⁵ So when it was time to shut the gate at dark, the men went out, and I don’t know where they went. Pursue them quickly, for you may overtake them.” ⁶ But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them in the stalks of flax that she had spread out on the roof. ⁷ So the men pursued them on the road to the fords of the Jordan. As soon as the pursuers had gone out, they shut the gate.

⁸ Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, ⁹ and she said to the men: “I know that Adonai has given you the land—dread of you has fallen on us and all the inhabitants of the land are melting in fear before you. ¹⁰ For we have heard how Adonai dried up the water of the Sea of Reeds before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites that were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. ¹¹ When we heard about it, our hearts melted, and no spirit remained any more in anyone because of you. For Adonai your God, He is God, in heaven above and on earth beneath. ¹² So now, please swear to me by Adonai, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s house. Give me a true sign ¹³ that you will spare the lives of my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters and all who belong to them, and save our lives from death.”

¹⁴ The men said to her: “Our life for yours, if you don’t report this business of ours. Then it will be when Adonai gives us the land that we will deal kindly and loyally with you.”

¹⁵ So she lowered them down by a rope through the window—for her house was in the wall; she was living in the wall. ¹⁶ Then she said to them: “Go to the hill country, lest the pursuers meet you, and hide yourselves there for three days, until the pursuers return. Afterward, you may go your way.”

¹⁷ Then the men said to her: “We will be released from this oath that you have made us swear, ¹⁸ unless when we come into the land, you tie this line of scarlet thread in the window through which you lowered us down, and gather to yourself in the house your father, your mother, your brothers and all your father’s household— ¹⁹ whoever goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood will be on his head and we will be innocent, but whoever is with you in the house, his blood will be on our head if any hand is laid on him. ²⁰ But if you divulge this business of ours, then we will be released from your oath you have made us swear.”

²¹ So she said: “According to your words, so be it.” Then she sent them away. After they had gone, she tied the scarlet cord to the window. ²² Then they departed and came to the hill country. They stayed there for three days until the pursuers returned. Now the pursuers had looked for them all along the road, but had not found them. ²³ Then the two men returned, came down from the hill country, crossed over and came to Joshua son of Nun.

They reported to him all that had befallen them. ²⁴ “Surely Adonai has given all the land into our hands,” they said to Joshua. “Indeed, all the inhabitants of the land have melted in fear before us.”