Numbers 13
New American Standard Bible
Spies View the Land
13 Then (A)the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “(B)Send out men for yourself to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give 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 and 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, [b]Joshua.
17 When Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, he said to them, “Go up 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 And how is the land in which they live, is it good or bad? And how are the cities in which they live, are the people in open camps or in fortifications? 20 And (G)how is the land, is it [d]productive or unproductive? Are there trees in it or not? And (H)show yourselves courageous and get some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season 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, [e](J)at Lebo-hamath. 22 When they had gone up into (K)the Negev, [f]they came to Hebron where (L)Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the [g]descendants of (M)Anak were. (Hebron was built seven years before (N)Zoan in Egypt.)
23 Then they came to the [h]Valley of [i](O)Eshcol, and from there they cut off 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 [j]Eshcol, because of the cluster which the sons of Israel cut off from there.
The Spies’ Reports
25 When they returned from spying out the land, at the end of forty days, 26 they went on and came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, [k]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 So they reported to him and said, “We came into 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 indeed, we saw (T)the [l]descendants of Anak there! 29 Amalek is living in the land of (U)the Negev, the Hittites, 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 [m]before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will certainly prevail over it.” 31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “(X)We are not able to go up against the people, because they are too strong for us.” 32 So they brought (Y)a bad report of the land which they had spied out to the sons of Israel, saying, “The land through which we have gone to spy out is (Z)a land that devours its inhabitants; and (AA)all the people whom we saw in it are people of great stature. 33 We also saw the [n](AB)Nephilim there (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and (AC)we were like [o]grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
Footnotes
- Numbers 13:3 Lit mouth
- Numbers 13:16 In Heb Yehoshua
- Numbers 13:17 I.e., South country, and so throughout the ch
- Numbers 13:20 Lit fat or gaunt
- Numbers 13:21 Or to the entrance of Hamath
- Numbers 13:22 Most mss one came
- Numbers 13:22 Lit sons
- Numbers 13:23 Or wadi
- Numbers 13:23 I.e., cluster (of grapes)
- Numbers 13:24 I.e., cluster
- Numbers 13:26 Lit to
- Numbers 13:28 Lit sons
- Numbers 13:30 Lit toward
- Numbers 13:33 Lit fallen ones; LXX giants
- Numbers 13:33 Or locusts
Numbers 13
New Living Translation
Twelve Scouts Explore Canaan
13 The Lord now said to Moses, 2 “Send out men to explore the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to the Israelites. Send one leader from each of the twelve ancestral tribes.” 3 So Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He sent out twelve men, all tribal leaders of Israel, from their camp in the wilderness of Paran. 4 These were the tribes and the names of their leaders:
| Tribe | Leader |
|---|---|
| Reuben | Shammua son of Zaccur |
| 5 Simeon | Shaphat son of Hori |
| 6 Judah | Caleb son of Jephunneh |
| 7 Issachar | Igal son of Joseph |
| 8 Ephraim | Hoshea son of Nun |
| 9 Benjamin | Palti son of Raphu |
| 10 Zebulun | Gaddiel son of Sodi |
| 11 Manasseh son of Joseph | Gaddi son of Susi |
| 12 Dan | Ammiel son of Gemalli |
| 13 Asher | Sethur son of Michael |
| 14 Naphtali | Nahbi son of Vophsi |
| 15 Gad | Geuel son of Maki |
16 These are the names of the men Moses sent out to explore the land. (Moses called Hoshea son of Nun by the name Joshua.)
17 Moses gave the men these instructions as he sent them out to explore the land: “Go north through the Negev into the hill country. 18 See what the land is like, and find out whether the people living there are strong or weak, few or many. 19 See what kind of land they live in. Is it good or bad? Do their towns have walls, or are they unprotected like open camps? 20 Is the soil fertile or poor? Are there many trees? Do your best to bring back samples of the crops you see.” (It happened to be the season for harvesting the first ripe grapes.)
21 So they went up and explored the land from the wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, near Lebo-hamath. 22 Going north, they passed through the Negev and arrived at Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai—all descendants of Anak—lived. (The ancient town of Hebron was founded seven years before the Egyptian city of Zoan.) 23 When they came to the valley of Eshcol, they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes so large that it took two of them to carry it on a pole between them! They also brought back samples of the pomegranates and figs. 24 That place was called the valley of Eshcol (which means “cluster”), because of the cluster of grapes the Israelite men cut there.
The Scouting Report
25 After exploring the land for forty days, the men returned 26 to Moses, Aaron, and the whole community of Israel at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran. They reported to the whole community what they had seen and showed them the fruit they had taken from the land. 27 This was their report to Moses: “We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country—a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is the kind of fruit it produces. 28 But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak! 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev, and the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea[a] and along the Jordan Valley.”
30 But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. “Let’s go at once to take the land,” he said. “We can certainly conquer it!”
31 But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. “We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!” 32 So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites: “The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw were huge. 33 We even saw giants[b] there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!”
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
