Numbers 13:26-33
Lexham English Bible
26 And they came[a] to Moses and Aaron and to the entire community of the Israelites[b] in the desert of Paran at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the community, and they showed them the fruit of the land. 27 And they told him,[c] “We came to the land that you sent us, and it is flowing of milk and honey; this is its fruit. 28 Yet the people who are inhabiting it are strong and the cities are fortified and very large; moreover, we saw the descendants of the Anakites there. 29 The Amalekites are living in the land of the Negev;[d] the Hittites, Jebusites, and the Amorites are living in the hill country; and the Canaanites are living at the sea and on the banks of the Jordan.”
30 And Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “Surely, let us go up and let us take possession of it because surely we will be able to prevail over it.” 31 And the men who went up with him said, “We are not able to go up to the people because they are stronger than us.” 32 And they presented the report of the land that they explored to the Israelites,[e] saying, “The land that we went through to explore is a land that eats its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in its midst are men of great size.[f] 33 There we saw the Nephilim (the descendants[g] of Anak came from the Nephilim), and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their eyes.”
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- Numbers 13:26 Hebrew “they went and came”
- Numbers 13:26 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Numbers 13:27 Hebrew “they told him and said”
- Numbers 13:29 An arid region south of the Judean hills
- Numbers 13:32 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Numbers 13:32 Literally “men of measurements”
- Numbers 13:33 Or “sons”
Numbers 13:26-33
New English Translation
The Spies’ Reports
26 They came back[a] to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh.[b] They reported[c] to the whole community and showed the fruit of the land. 27 They told Moses,[d] “We went to the land where you sent us.[e] It is indeed flowing with milk and honey,[f] and this is its fruit. 28 But[g] the inhabitants[h] are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. Moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the land of the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the banks[i] of the Jordan.”[j]
30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses, saying, “Let us go up[k] and occupy it,[l] for we are well able to conquer it.”[m] 31 But the men[n] who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against these people, because they are stronger than we are!” 32 Then they presented the Israelites with a discouraging report[o] of the land they had investigated, saying, “The land that we passed through[p] to investigate is a land that devours[q] its inhabitants.[r] All the people we saw there[s] are of great stature. 33 We even saw the Nephilim[t] there (the descendants of Anak came from the Nephilim), and we seemed like grasshoppers both to ourselves[u] and to them.”[v]
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- Numbers 13:26 tn The construction literally has “and they went and they entered,” which may be smoothed out as a verbal hendiadys, the one verb modifying the other.
- Numbers 13:26 sn Kadesh is Ain Qadeis, about 50 miles (83 km) south of Beer Sheba. It is called Kadesh Barnea in Num 32:8.
- Numbers 13:26 tn Heb “They brought back word”; the verb is the Hiphil preterite of שׁוּב (shuv).
- Numbers 13:27 tn Heb “told him and said.” The referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Numbers 13:27 tn The relative clause modifies “the land.” It is constructed with the relative and the verb: “where you sent us.”
- Numbers 13:27 sn This is the common expression for the material abundance of the land (see further, F. C. Fensham, “An Ancient Tradition of the Fertility of Palestine,” PEQ 98 [1966]: 166-67).
- Numbers 13:28 tn The word (אֶפֶס, ʾefes) forms a very strong adversative. The land was indeed rich and fruitful, but….”
- Numbers 13:28 tn Heb “the people who are living in the land.”
- Numbers 13:29 tn Heb “by the side [hand] of.”
- Numbers 13:29 sn For more discussion on these people groups, see D. J. Wiseman, ed., Peoples of Old Testament Times.
- Numbers 13:30 tn The construction is emphatic, using the cohortative with the infinitive absolute to strengthen it: עָלֹה נַעֲלֶה (ʿaloh naʿaleh, “let us go up”) with the sense of certainty and immediacy.
- Numbers 13:30 tn The perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive brings the cohortative idea forward: “and let us possess it”; it may also be subordinated to form a purpose or result idea.
- Numbers 13:30 tn Here again the confidence of Caleb is expressed with the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense: יָכוֹל נוּכַל (yakhol nukhal), “we are fully able” to do this. The verb יָכַל (yakhal) followed by the preposition lamed means “to prevail over, to conquer.”
- Numbers 13:31 tn The vav (ו) disjunctive on the noun at the beginning of the clause forms a strong adversative clause here.
- Numbers 13:32 tn Or “an evil report,” i.e., one that was a defamation of the grace of God.
- Numbers 13:32 tn Heb “which we passed over in it”; the pronoun on the preposition serves as a resumptive pronoun for the relative, and need not be translated literally.
- Numbers 13:32 tn The verb is the feminine singular participle from אָכַל (ʾakhal); it modifies the land as a “devouring land,” a bold figure for the difficulty of living in the place.
- Numbers 13:32 sn The expression has been interpreted in a number of ways by commentators, such as that the land was infertile, that the Canaanites were cannibals, that it was a land filled with warlike dissensions, or that it denotes a land geared for battle. It may be that they intended the land to seem infertile and insecure.
- Numbers 13:32 tn Heb “in its midst.”
- Numbers 13:33 tc The Greek version uses γίγαντας (gigantas, “giants”) to translate “the Nephilim,” but it does not retain the clause “the sons of Anak are from the Nephilim.”sn The Nephilim are the legendary giants of antiquity. They are first discussed in Gen 6:4. This forms part of the pessimism of the spies’ report.
- Numbers 13:33 tn Heb “in our eyes.”
- Numbers 13:33 tn Heb “in their eyes.”
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