Spies Sent into Canaan^(A)

13 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^2 (B)“Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.”

³ So Moses sent them ^(C)from the Wilderness of Paran according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel.

²¹ So they went up and spied out the land ^(A)from the Wilderness of Zin as far as ^(B)Rehob, near the entrance of ^(C)Hamath. ²² And they went up through the South and came to ^(D)Hebron; Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of ^(E)Anak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) ^23 (F)Then they came to the ^[a]Valley of Eshcol, and there cut down a branch with one cluster of grapes; they carried it between two of them on a pole. They also brought some of the pomegranates and figs. ²⁴ The place was called the Valley of ^[b]Eshcol, because of the cluster which the men of Israel cut down there. ²⁵ And they returned from spying out the land after forty days.

²⁶ Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran, at ^(G)Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. ²⁷ Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly ^[c]flows with ^(H)milk and honey, ^(I)and this is its fruit. ²⁸ Nevertheless the ^(J)people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of ^(K)Anak there. ^29 (L)The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.”

³⁰ Then ^(M)Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”