Numbers 13
1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
The Lord told Moses,
2 Send for you men, and let them spy the land of the Chananites, which I give to the sons of Israel for a possession; one man for a tribe, you shall send them away according to their families, every one of them a prince.
“Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, the country I'm giving to the Israelites. Choose one of the leaders from each of the tribes to go and do this.”
3 And Moses sent them out of the wilderness of Pharan by the word of the Lord; all these [were] the princes of the sons of Israel.
Moses did as the Lord had ordered and sent the men out from the Desert of Paran. They were all leaders of the Israelites.
4 And these [are] their names: of the tribe of Ruben, Samuel the son of Zachur.
Their names were: Shammua son of Zaccur, from the tribe of Reuben.
5 Of the tribe of Symeon, Saphat the son of Suri.
Shaphat, son of Hori, from the tribe of Simeon.
6 Of the tribe of Judah, Chaleb the son of Jephonne.
Caleb, son of Jephunneh, from the tribe of Judah.
7 Of the tribe of Issachar, Ilaal the son of Joseph.
Igal, son of Joseph, from the tribe of Issachar.
8 Of the tribe of Ephraim, Ause the son of Naue.
Hoshea, son of Nun, from the tribe of Ephraim.
9 Of the tribe of Benjamin, Phalti the son of Raphu.
Palti son of Raphu, from the tribe of Benjamin.
10 Of the tribe of Zabulon, Gudiel the son of Sudi.
Gaddiel, son of Sodi, from the tribe of Zebulun.
11 Of the tribe of Joseph of the sons of Manasse, Gaddi the son of Susi.
Gaddi, son of Susi, from the tribe of Manasseh (a tribe of Joseph).
12 Of the tribe of Dan, Amiel the son of Gamali.
Ammiel, son of Gemalli, from the tribe of Dan.
13 Of the tribe of Aser, Sathur the son of Michael.
Sethur, son of Michael, from the tribe of Asher.
14 Of the tribe of Nephthali, Nabi the son of Sabi.
Nahbi, son of Vophsi, from the tribe of Naphtali.
15 Of the tribe of Gad, Gudiel the son of Macchi.
Geuel, son of Machi, from the tribe of Gad.
16 These [are] the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land; and Moses called Ause the son of Naue, Joshua.
These were the names of the men that Moses sent to explore the country. Moses called Hoshea Joshua.
17 And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Chanaan, and said to them, Go up by this wilderness; and you shall go up to the mountain,
Moses sent them out to explore the land of Canaan, telling them, “Go through the Negev and on into the hill country.
18 and you shall see the land, what it is, and the people that dwells on it, whether it is strong or weak, or [whether] they are few or many.
See what the place looks like, and find out about the people living there—are they strong or weak? Are there many of them or only a few?
19 And what the land is on which they dwell, [whether] it is good or bad; and what the cities are wherein these dwell, whether they dwell in walled [cities] or unwalled.
Is the land where they're living good or bad? Are their towns like open camps, or do they have defensive walls?
20 And what the land is, whether rich or poor; whether there are trees in it or no: and you shall persevere and take of the fruits of the land: and the days [were] the days of spring, the forerunners of the grape.
Is the soil productive or not? Is it forested? Be brave, and bring back some of the country's fruit.” (It was the beginning of the grape harvest.)
21 And they went up and surveyed the land from the wilderness of Sin to Rhoob, as men go in to Aemath.
So the men went and explored the land all the way from the Desert of Zin to Rehob, bear Lebo-hamath.
22 And they went up by the wilderness, and departed as far as Chebron; and there [was] Achiman, and Sessi, and Thelami, the progeny of Enach. Now Chebron was built seven years before Tanin of Egypt.
They went through the Negev and arrived in Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, lived. This town was built seven years before the Egyptian town of Zoan.
23 And they came to the valley of the cluster and surveyed it; and they cut down thence a bough and one cluster of grapes upon it, and bore it on staves, and [they took] of the pomegranates and the figs.
When they arrived at the Valley of Eshcol they chopped down a branch that had just one bunch of grapes. They had to carry it on a pole held between two men. They also collected some pomegranates and figs.
24 And they called that place, The valley of the cluster, because of the cluster which the children of Israel cut down from thence.
(The place was named the Valley of Eshcol because of the bunch of grapes they took from there.)
25 And they returned from thence, having surveyed the land, after forty days.
Forty days later the men returned from exploring the country.
26 And they proceeded and came to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel, to the wilderness of Pharan Cades; and they brought word to them and to all the congregation, and they showed the fruit of the land:
They went to see Moses and Aaron, and all the Israelites gathered there at their camp in Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. They gave a report before everyone and showed them the fruit they had brought back from the country.
27 and they reported to him, and said, We came into the land into which you sent us, a land flowing with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.
This is the report they gave to Moses: “We went and explored the country you sent us to, and it is definitely very productive, as if it was flowing with milk and honey. Just look at some of its fruit!
28 Only the nation that dwells upon it is bold, and they have very great and strong walled towns, and we saw there the children of Enach.
But the people living there are strong, and their towns are big and have defensive walls. We also saw some descendants of Anak there.
29 And Amalec dwells in the land towards the south: and the Chettite and the Evite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite dwells in the hill country: and the Chananite dwells by the sea, and by the river Jordan.
The Amalekites live in the Negev. The Hittites, Jebusites, and the Amorites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live on the sea coast and also beside the Jordan.”
30 And Chaleb stayed the people from speaking before Moses, and said to him, Nay, but we will go up by all means, and will inherit it, for we shall surely prevail against them.
Then Caleb asked for quiet as the people stood before Moses and told them, “Let's go and take over the land. We can conquer the country, no doubt about it!”
31 But the men that went up together with him said, We will not go up, for we shall not by any means be able to go up against the nation, for it is much stronger than we.
But the men who had gone with him disagreed. “We can't go and fight these people! They're much stronger than us!”
32 And they brought a horror of that land which they surveyed upon the children of Israel, saying, The land which we passed by to survey it, is a land that eats up its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of extraordinary stature.
They spread a negative report among the Israelites about the country they had explored. They told people, “The country we explored destroys the people that live there. Plus everyone we saw was really big!
33 And there we saw the giants; and we were before them as locusts, yes even so were we before them.
We even saw giants there—people descended from Anak the giant! Compared to them we looked like grasshoppers, and we must have looked like that to them too!”
