Numbers 13
New Life Version
Men Sent to Spy out the Land
13 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan which I am going to give to the people of Israel. Send a man from each of their fathers’ families, every one a leader among them.” 3 So Moses sent them from the desert of Paran, as the Lord had told him. All of the men were heads of the people of Israel. 4 These were their names. There was Shammua the son of Zaccur from the family of Reuben, 5 Shaphat the son of Hori from the family of Simeon, 6 Caleb the son of Jephunneh from the family of Judah, 7 and Igal the son of Joseph from the family of Issachar. 8 There was Hoshea the son of Nun from the family of Ephraim, 9 Palti the son of Raphu from the family of Benjamin, 10 Gaddiel the son of Sodi from the family of Zebulun, 11 and Gaddi the son of Susi from the family of Joseph, from the family of Manasseh. 12 There was Ammiel the son of Gemalli from the family of Dan, 13 Sethur the son of Michael from the family of Asher, 14 Nahbi the son of Vophsi from the family of Naphtali, 15 and Geuel the son of Machi from the family of Gad. 16 These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. But Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua.
17 Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan. He said to them, “Go up there into the Negev. Then go up into the hill country. 18 See what the land is like. See if the people who live in it are strong or weak, and if they are few or many. 19 Find out if the land they live in is good or bad. See if the cities they live in are open or if they have walls. 20 Find out if the land is rich or poor, and if there are trees in it or not. Then try to get some of the fruit of the land.” Now this was the gathering time of the first grown grapes.
21 So they went up and spied out the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, at Lebo-hamath. 22 When they had gone up into the Negev, they came to Hebron. Anak’s sons Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai were there. (Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
23 Then they came to the valley of Eshcol. They cut down a branch from there with some grapes on it. And they carried it on a long piece of wood between two men, with some pomegranates and figs. 24 That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of much fruit the men of Israel cut down from there.
25 They returned from looking over the land after forty days. 26 And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the people of Israel in the desert of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought news to them and to all the people, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 They told Moses, “We went to the land where you sent us. It does flow with milk and honey. This is its fruit. 28 But the people who live in the land are strong. The cities have walls and are very large. And we saw the children of Anak there. 29 Amalek is living in the land of the Negev. The Hittites and Jebusites and Amorites are living in the hill country. And the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan.”
30 Then Caleb told the people in front of Moses to be quiet. And he said, “Let us go up at once and take the land. For we are well able to take it in battle.” 31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go against the people. They are too strong for us.” 32 So they brought the people of Israel bad news about the land they had spied out, saying, “The land we have gone to spy out is a land that destroys those who go there to live. All the people we saw in it are very large. 33 We saw the Nephilim there. (The sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim.) We looked like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”
Numbers 13
Living Bible
13 Jehovah now instructed Moses, 2 “Send spies into the land of Canaan—the land I am giving to Israel; send one leader from each tribe.”
3-15 (The Israelis were camped in the wilderness of Paran at the time.) Moses did as the Lord had commanded and sent these twelve tribal leaders:
Shammua, son of Zaccur, from the tribe of Reuben;
Shaphat, son of Hori, from the tribe of Simeon;
Caleb, son of Jephunneh, from the tribe of Judah;
Igal, son of Joseph, from the tribe of Issachar;
Hoshea,[a] son of Nun, from the half-tribe of Ephraim;
Palti, son of Raphu, from the tribe of Benjamin;
Gaddiel, son of Sodi, from the tribe of Zebulun;
Gaddi, son of Susi, from the tribe of Joseph (actually, the half-tribe of Manasseh);
Ammiel, son of Gemalli, from the tribe of Dan;
Sethur, son of Michael, from the tribe of Asher;
Nahbi, son of Vophsi, from the tribe of Naphtali;
Geuel, son of Machi, from the tribe of Gad.
16 It was at this time that Moses changed Hoshea’s name to Joshua.[b]
17 Moses sent them out with these instructions: “Go northward into the hill country of the Negeb, 18 and see what the land is like; see also what the people are like who live there, whether they are strong or weak, many or few; 19 and whether the land is fertile or not; and what cities there are, and whether they are villages or are fortified; 20 whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are many trees. Don’t be afraid, and bring back some samples of the crops you see.” (The first of the grapes were being harvested at that time.)
21 So they spied out the land all the way from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob near Hamath. 22 Going northward, they passed first through the Negeb and arrived at Hebron. There they saw the Ahimanites, Sheshites, and Talmites, all families descended from Anak. (By the way, Hebron was very ancient, having been founded seven years before Tanis[c] in Egypt.) 23 Then they came to what is now known as the valley of Eshcol where they cut down a single cluster of grapes so large that it took two of them to carry it on a pole between them! They also took some samples of the pomegranates and figs. 24 The Israelis named the valley “Eshcol” at that time (meaning “Cluster”) because of the cluster of grapes they found!
25 After forty days of exploration they returned from their tour. 26 They made their report to Moses, Aaron, and all the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh, and they showed the fruit they had brought with them.
27 This was their report: “We arrived in the land you sent us to see, and it is indeed a magnificent country—a land ‘flowing with milk and honey.’ Here is some fruit we have brought as proof. 28 But the people living there are powerful, and their cities are fortified and very large; and what’s more, we saw Anakim giants there! 29 The Amalekites live in the south, while in the hill country there are the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites; down along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and in the Jordan River Valley are the Canaanites.”
30 But Caleb reassured the people as they stood before Moses. “Let us go up at once and possess it,” he said, “for we are well able to conquer it!”
31 “Not against people as strong as they are!” the other spies said. “They would crush us!”
32 So the majority report of the spies was negative: “The land is full of warriors, the people are powerfully built, 33 and we saw some of the Anakim there, descendants of the ancient race of giants. We felt like grasshoppers before them, they were so tall!”
Footnotes
- Numbers 13:3 Hoshea, or “Joshua.” See v. 16.
- Numbers 13:16 Moses changed Hoshea’s name to Joshua. Hoshea means “salvation”; Joshua means “Jehovah is salvation.” Joshua is the same name in Hebrew as the Greek name “Jesus.”
- Numbers 13:22 Tanis, or “Zoan,” also known as “Avaris,” was built ca. 1700 B.C.
Copyright © 1969, 2003 by Barbour Publishing, Inc.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.