Liber Numeri 13
1 ibique locutus est Dominus ad Moysen, dicens:
Yahweh said to Moses/me,
2 Mitte viros, qui considerent Terram Chanaan, quam daturus sum filiis Israel, singulos de singulis tribubus, ex principibus.
“Send some men to Canaan [land] to explore it. That is the land that I will give to you Israelis. Send men who are leaders in their tribes.”
3 Fecit Moyses quod Dominus imperaverat, de deserto Pharan mittens principes viros, quorum ista sunt nomina.
So Moses/I did what Yahweh commanded him/me. He/I sent out twelve Israeli men who were all leaders of their tribes. He/I sent them from their/our camp at Paran in the desert.
4 De tribu Ruben, Sammua filium Zechur.
These are the names of the men [and the tribes they belonged to: ] Shammua, the son of Zaccur, from the tribe of Reuben;
5 De tribu Simeon, Saphat filium Huri.
Shaphat, the son of Hori, from the tribe of Simeon;
6 De tribu Iuda, Caleb filium Iephone.
Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, from the tribe of Judah;
7 De tribu Issachar, Igal filium Ioseph.
Igal, the son of Joseph, from the tribe of Issachar;
8 De tribu Ephraim, Osee filium Nun.
Hoshea, the son of Nun, from the tribe of Ephraim;
9 De tribu Beniamin, Phalti filium Raphu.
Palti, the son of Raphu, from the tribe of Benjamin;
10 De tribu Zabulon, Geddiel filium Sodi.
Gaddiel, the son of Sodi, from the tribe of Zebulun;
11 De tribu Ioseph, sceptri Manasse, Gaddi filium Susi.
Gaddi, the son of Susi, from the tribe of Manasseh;
12 De tribu Dan, Ammiel filium Gemalli.
Ammiel, the son of Gemalli, from the tribe of Dan;
13 De tribu Aser, Sthur filium Michael.
Sethur, the son of Michael, from the tribe of Asher;
14 De tribu Nephthali, Nahabi filium Vapsi.
Nahbi, the son of Vophsi, from the tribe of Naphtali;
15 De tribu Gad, Guel filium Machi.
and Geuel, the son of Maki, from the tribe of Gad.
16 hæc sunt nomina virorum, quos misit Moyses ad considerandam Terram: vocavitque Osee filium Nun, Iosue.
Those are the names of the men whom Moses/I sent out to explore Canaan. [Before they left], Moses/I gave Hoshea a new name, Joshua, [which means ‘Yahweh is the one who saves].’
17 misit ergo eos Moyses ad considerandam Terram Chanaan, et dixit ad eos: Ascendite per meridianam plagam. Cumque veneritis ad montes,
Before Moses/I sent them to explore Canaan, he/I said to them, “Go through the southern part of Canaan, and then go [north] into the hilly area.
18 considerate Terram, qualis sit: et populum qui habitator est eius, utrum fortis sit an infirmus: si pauci numero an plures:
See what the land is like. See if the people who live there are strong or weak. See if there are many people or only a few people.
19 ipsa terra, bona an mala: urbes quales, muratæ an absque muris:
Find out what kind of land they live in [RHQ]. Is it good or bad? Find out about the towns in which they live [RHQ]. Do they have walls around them or not?
20 humus, pinguis an sterilis, nemorosa an absque arboribus. Confortamini, et afferte nobis de fructibus Terræ. Erat autem tempus quando iam præcoquæ uvæ vesci possunt.
Find out about the soil [RHQ]. Is it (fertile/good for growing crops) or not? Find out if there are trees there [RHQ]. Try to bring back some of the fruit that grows in that land.” [He/I said that because] it was the beginning of the time to harvest grapes.
21 Cumque ascendissent, exploraverunt Terram a deserto Sin, usque Rohob intrantibus Emath.
So those men went to Canaan. They went [through the entire land], from the Zin desert [in the south] all the way to Rehob [town] near Lebo-Hamath [in the north].
22 Ascenderuntque ad meridiem, et venerunt in Hebron, ubi erant Achiman et Sisai et Tholmai filii Enac. nam Hebron septem annis ante Tanim urbem Ægypti condita est.
In the south, they went to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, [huge men] descended from Anak, lived. Hebron was a city that was built seven years before Zoan [city] was built in Egypt.
23 Pergentesque usque ad Torrentem botri, absciderunt palmitem cum uva sua, quem portaverunt in vecte duo viri. De malis quoque granatis et de ficis loci illius tulerunt:
In one valley, they cut from a grapevine one cluster of grapes. [Because it was very large, they needed] two men to carry it on a pole. They also picked some pomegranates and some figs [to carry back to their camp].
24 qui appellatus est Nehelescol, id est Torrens botri, eo quod botrum portassent inde filii Israel.
They called that place Eshcol [which means ‘cluster’] because they had cut that [huge] cluster of grapes there.
25 Reversique exploratores Terræ post quadraginta dies, omni regione circuita,
After they explored the land for 40 days, they returned to their camp.
26 venerunt ad Moysen et Aaron et ad omnem cœtum filiorum Israel in desertum Pharan, quod est in Cades. Locutique eis et omni multitudini ostenderunt fructus Terræ:
They came to Aaron and Moses/me and the rest of the Israeli people in the desert at Paran. They reported to everyone what they had seen. They also showed them the fruit that they had brought back.
27 et narraverunt, dicentes: Venimus in Terram, ad quam misisti nos, quæ revera fluit lacte et melle, ut ex his fructibus cognosci potest:
But this is what they reported to Moses/me: “We arrived in the land that you sent us to explore. It is truly a beautiful land, and it is very fertile [IDM]. Here is some of the fruit.
28 sed cultores fortissimos habet, et urbes grandes atque muratas. Stirpem Enac vidimus ibi.
But the people who live there are very strong. Their cities are large and are surrounded by walls. We even saw some of the [huge] descendants of Anak there.
29 Amalec habitat in meridie, Hethæus et Iebusæus et Amorrhæus in montanis: Chananæus vero moratur iuxta mare et circa fluenta Iordanis.
The descendants of Amalek live in the southern part [of the land], and the descendants of Heth, Jebus, and Amor live in the hilly area [to the north]. The descendants of Canaan live along the coast of the [Mediterranean] sea and along the Jordan [River].”
30 Inter hæc Caleb compescens murmur populi, qui oriebatur contra Moysen, ait: Ascendamus, et possideamus Terram, quoniam poterimus obtinere eam.
[When they said that, the people were afraid and started to cry out very loudly]. But Caleb told the people who were standing near Moses/me to be quiet. Then he said, “We should go there and take the land, because we are certainly able to conquer it!”
31 Alii vero, qui fuerant cum eo, dicebant: Nequaquam ad hunc populum valemus ascendere, quia fortior nobis est.
But the men who had gone with him said, “No, we cannot attack [and defeat] those people! They are much stronger than we are!”
32 Detraxeruntque Terræ, quam inspexerant, apud filios Israel, dicentes: Terra, quam lustravimus, devorat habitatores suos: populus, quem aspeximus, proceræ staturæ est.
So those men gave to the Israeli people a bad report about the land that they had explored. They said, “The land that we explored is very large; we cannot conquer it. And all the people whom we saw are very tall.
33 Ibi vidimus monstra quædam filiorum Enac de genere giganteo: quibus comparati, quasi locustæ videbamur.
We even saw the descendants of Nephili there. The descendants of Anak [whom we saw there] are descended from the giant Nephili people. When we saw them, we felt [as small] as grasshoppers [SIM], and they thought that we looked like grasshoppers too!”
