¹⁹ “Then we set out from Horeb (Sinai), and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw on the way to the hill country of the ^[a]Amorites, just as the Lord our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea. ²⁰ And I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Amorites which the Lord our God is about to give us. ²¹ Behold, the Lord your God has set the land before you; go up and take possession of it, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’

²² “Then all of you approached me and said, ‘Let us send men [into the land] before us, so that they may explore and search the area for us, and bring back to us word regarding the way we should go, and the cities we should enter.’ ²³ The plan pleased me and I took twelve of your men, one man from each tribe. ²⁴ They turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and spied it out. ²⁵ Then they took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us; and they reported back to us, and said, ‘It is a good land which the Lord our God is about to give us.’

²⁶ “Yet you were not willing to go up [to take possession of it], but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. ²⁷ You murmured and were ill-tempered (discontented) in your tents, and said, ‘Because the Lord hates us He has brought us from the land of Egypt to hand us over to the Amorites to destroy us. ²⁸ Where can we go up? Our brothers (spies) have made our hearts melt [in fear] and demoralized us by saying, “The people are bigger and taller than we; the cities are large, and fortified [all the way up] to heaven. And besides, we saw the [giant-like] sons of the Anakim there.”’ ²⁹ Then I said to you, ‘Do not be shocked, nor fear them. ³⁰ The Lord your God who goes before you will fight for you Himself, just as He did for you in Egypt before your [very] eyes, ³¹ and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried and protected you, just as a man carries his son, all along the way which you traveled until you arrived at this place.’ ³² Yet in spite of this word, you did not trust [that is, confidently rely on and believe] the Lord your God, ³³ who went before you along the way, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to seek a place for you to make camp and to show you the way in which you should go.