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Spies Sent to Spy Out the Land of Canaan

13 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Send for yourself men, and let them explore the land of Canaan, which I am about to give to the Israelites;[a] from each tribe of his father send one man,[b] everyone a leader among them.” So Moses sent them from the desert of Paran on the command of Yahweh; all of the men were leaders[c] of the Israelites.[d] And these are their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur; from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori; from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh; from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph; from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun; from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu; 10 from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi; 11 from the tribe of Joseph, from the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi son of Susi; 12 from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli; 13 from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael; 14 from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi; 15 from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki. 16 These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to explore the land. And Moses called Hoshea son of Nun Joshua.

17 Moses sent them to explore the land of Canaan, and he said to them, “Go up like this to the Negev,[e] and go up into the hill country, 18 and you will see what the land is like and if the people who inhabit it are strong or weak, or whether they are few or many, 19 and whether the land that they are inhabiting is good or bad, and whether the cities they are inhabiting are camps or fortifications, 20 and whether the land is fertile or lean, and whether there are trees on it or not. You will show yourself courageous, and you will take some of the fruit of the land.” It was the time of first ripe grapes.

21 So they went up and explored the land from the desert of Zin until Rehob, at Lebo Hamath.[f] 22 They went up through the Negev[g] and came to Hebron, where[h] Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai the descendants of the Anakites were. (Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 23 And they came up to the valley[i] of Eshcol, and they cut off a vine branch and one cluster of grapes from there; they carried it on a pole between two men, with pomegranates and figs. 24 That place he called the valley[j] of Eshcol on account of the cluster of grapes that the Israelites[k] cut off from there.

The Spies Return

25 They returned from exploring the land at the end of forty days.[l]

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 13:2 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  2. Numbers 13:2 Literally “one man one man from the tribe of his father”
  3. Numbers 13:3 Literally “heads”
  4. Numbers 13:3 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  5. Numbers 13:17 An arid region south of the Judean hills
  6. Numbers 13:21 Or “near Hamath”
  7. Numbers 13:22 An arid region south of the Judean hills
  8. Numbers 13:22 Hebrew “and there”
  9. Numbers 13:23 Or “wadi”
  10. Numbers 13:24 Or “wadi”
  11. Numbers 13:24 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  12. Numbers 13:25 Hebrew “day”

Spies View the Land

13 Then (A)the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, (B)Send out men for yourself to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give the sons of Israel; you shall send a man from each of their fathers’ tribes, every one a leader among them.” So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the [a]command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the sons of Israel. These then were their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur; from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori; from the tribe of Judah, (C)Caleb the son of Jephunneh; from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph; from the tribe of Ephraim, (D)Hoshea the son of Nun; from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu; 10 from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi; 11 from the tribe of Joseph, from the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi; 12 from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli; 13 from the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael; 14 from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi; 15 and from the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi. 16 These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land; but Moses called (E)Hoshea the son of Nun, [b]Joshua.

17 When Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, he said to them, “Go up there into (F)the [c]Negev; then go up into the hill country. 18 See what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many. 19 And how is the land in which they live, is it good or bad? And how are the cities in which they live, are the people in open camps or in fortifications? 20 And (G)how is the land, is it [d]productive or unproductive? Are there trees in it or not? And (H)show yourselves courageous and get some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.

21 So they went up and spied out the land from (I)the wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, [e](J)at Lebo-hamath. 22 When they had gone up into (K)the Negev, [f]they came to Hebron where (L)Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the [g]descendants of (M)Anak were. (Hebron was built seven years before (N)Zoan in Egypt.)

23 Then they came to the [h]Valley of [i](O)Eshcol, and from there they cut off a branch with a single cluster of grapes; and they carried it on a pole between two men, with some of the pomegranates and the figs. 24 That place was called the Valley of [j]Eshcol, because of the cluster which the sons of Israel cut off from there.

The Spies’ Reports

25 When they returned from spying out the land, at the end of forty days,

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 13:3 Lit mouth
  2. Numbers 13:16 In Heb Yehoshua
  3. Numbers 13:17 I.e., South country, and so throughout the ch
  4. Numbers 13:20 Lit fat or gaunt
  5. Numbers 13:21 Or to the entrance of Hamath
  6. Numbers 13:22 Most mss one came
  7. Numbers 13:22 Lit sons
  8. Numbers 13:23 Or wadi
  9. Numbers 13:23 I.e., cluster (of grapes)
  10. Numbers 13:24 I.e., cluster