Numbers 13:26-14:4

Amplified Bible

²⁶they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh, and brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the land’s fruit. ²⁷They reported to Moses and said, “We went in to the land where you sent us; and it certainly does ^[a]flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. ²⁸But the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are ^[b]fortified (walled) and very large; moreover, we saw there the descendants of Anak [people of great stature and courage]. ²⁹[The people descended from] Amalek live in the land of the Negev (South country); the Hittite, the Jebusite, and the Amorite live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the [Dead] Sea and along the side of the Jordan.”

³⁰Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession of it; for we will certainly conquer it.” ³¹But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people [of Canaan], for they are too strong for us.” ³²So they gave the Israelites a bad report about the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we went, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants. And all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. ³³There we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

The People Rebel

14 Then all the congregation [of Israel] raised their voices and cried out, and the people wept that night. ²All the Israelites murmured [in discontent] against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, “Oh that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or that we had died in this wilderness! ³Why is the Lord bringing us to this land [of Canaan], to fall by the sword? Our wives and ^[c]children will become plunder. Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?”^(A) ⁴So they said one to another, “Let us appoint a [new] leader and return to Egypt.”

Footnotes

Numbers 13:27 This phrase referred to the abundant fertility of the land of Canaan. Milk (typically that of goats and sheep) was associated with abundance; “honey” referred mainly to syrups made from dates or grapes and was the epitome of sweetness. Bees’ honey was very rare and was considered the choicest of foods.
Numbers 13:28 The spies probably had not seen walled cities before, having lived their childhood in Goshen in Egypt. Those who forgot God’s power to help them naturally found the situation formidable.
Numbers 14:3 Lit little ones.