Spies Sent into Canaan

13 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^2 (A)“Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.” ³ So Moses sent them from ^(B)the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the people of Israel.

²¹ So they went up and spied out the land ^(A)from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, ^(B)near Lebo-hamath. ²² They went up into ^(C)the Negeb and came to ^(D)Hebron. ^(E)Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the ^(F)descendants of Anak, were there. (^(G)Hebron was built seven years before ^(H)Zoan in Egypt.) ²³ And ^(I)they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs. ²⁴ That place was called the Valley of Eshcol,^[a] because of the cluster that the people of Israel cut down from there.

Report of the Spies

²⁵ At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. ²⁶ And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at ^(J)Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. ²⁷ And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It ^(K)flows with milk and honey, ^(L)and this is its fruit. ^28 (M)However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. ^29 (N)The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. ^(O)And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.”

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