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13 And Hashem spoke unto Moshe, saying,

Send thou anashim, that they may spy out Eretz Kena’an, which I give unto the Bnei Yisroel: of every tribe of their avot shall ye send a man, every one a nasi among them.

And Moshe by the mouth of Hashem sent them from the Midbar Paran; all those men were Roshei Bnei Yisroel.

And these were their shmot: of the tribe of Reuven, Shammua ben Zaccur.

Of the tribe of Shim’on, Shaphat ben Chori.

Of the tribe of Yehudah, Kalev ben Yephunneh.

Of the tribe of Yissakhar, Yigal ben Yosef.

Of the tribe of Ephrayim, Hoshea ben Nun.

Of the tribe of Binyamin, Palti ben Raphu.

10 Of the tribe of Zevulun, Gaddiel ben Sodi.

11 Of the tribe of Yosef, namely, of the tribe of Menasheh, Gaddi ben Susi.

12 Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel ben Gemalli.

13 Of the tribe of Asher, Setur ben Michael.

14 Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nachbi ben Vophsi.

15 Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel ben Machi.

16 These are the shmot of the men which Moshe sent to spy out the land. And Moshe called Hoshea ben Nun Yehoshua [See Zecharyah 6:11-12 on the personal name of Moshiach in prophecy].

17 And Moshe sent them to spy out Eretz Kena’an, and said unto them, Get you up to the Negev, and go up into the mountain;

18 And see the land, what it is like, and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many;

19 And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strongholds;

20 And what the land is, whether it be fertile or barren, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes.

21 So they went up, and searched the land from the midbar of Tzin unto Rechov, as men come to Chamat.

22 And they ascended by the south, and came unto Chevron; where Achiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the Anak, were. (Now Chevron was built seven shanim before Tzoan in Mitzrayim.)

23 And they came unto the Wadi Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with cluster of anavim echad, and they bore it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.

24 The place was called the Wadi Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the Bnei Yisroel cut down from thence.

25 And they returned from searching of the land after arba’im days.

26 And they went and came to Moshe, and to Aharon, and to all the congregation of the Bnei Yisroel, unto the Midbar Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto Kol HaEdah, and showed them the pri ha’aretz.

27 And they told him, and said, We came unto ha’aretz where thou didst send us, and truly it floweth with cholov and devash; and this is the fruit of it.

28 Nevertheless the people are strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and gedolot me’od; and moreover we saw the Anak there.

29 The Amalek dwell in the eretz of the Negev; and the Chitti, and the Yevusi, and the Emori, dwell in the hills; and the Kena’ani dwell by the yam, and by the bank of the Yarden.

30 And Kalev silenced HaAm before Moshe, and said, Let us go up at once, and take possession of it; for we are well able to overcome it.

31 But the anashim that went up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people; for they are chazak (stronger) than we.

32 And they spread an evil report of HaAretz which they had explored unto the Bnei Yisroel, saying, HaAretz, through which we have gone to explore it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.

33 And there we saw the Nephilim, the Bnei Anak, which come of the Nephilim; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

Exploring Canaan

13 The Lord said to Moses, “Send some men to explore(A) the land of Canaan,(B) which I am giving to the Israelites.(C) From each ancestral tribe(D) send one of its leaders.”

So at the Lord’s command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites.(E) These are their names:

from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zakkur;

from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori;

from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh;(F)

from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph;

from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun;(G)

from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu;

10 from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi;

11 from the tribe of Manasseh (a tribe of Joseph), 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 Moses sent to explore(H) the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun(I) the name Joshua.)(J)

17 When Moses sent them to explore Canaan,(K) he said, “Go up through the Negev(L) and on into the hill country.(M) 18 See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. 19 What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? 20 How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.(N)” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)(O)

21 So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin(P) as far as Rehob,(Q) toward Lebo Hamath.(R) 22 They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron,(S) where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai,(T) the descendants of Anak,(U) lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)(V) 23 When they reached the Valley of Eshkol,[a](W) they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates(X) and figs.(Y) 24 That place was called the Valley of Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there. 25 At the end of forty days(Z) they returned from exploring the land.(AA)

Report on the Exploration

26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh(AB) in the Desert of Paran.(AC) There they reported to them(AD) and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land.(AE) 27 They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey!(AF) Here is its fruit.(AG) 28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large.(AH) We even saw descendants of Anak(AI) there.(AJ) 29 The Amalekites(AK) live in the Negev; the Hittites,(AL) Jebusites(AM) and Amorites(AN) live in the hill country;(AO) and the Canaanites(AP) live near the sea and along the Jordan.(AQ)

30 Then Caleb(AR) silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”(AS) 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report(AT) about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours(AU) those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size.(AV) 33 We saw the Nephilim(AW) there (the descendants of Anak(AX) come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers(AY) in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

Footnotes

  1. Numbers 13:23 Eshkol means cluster; also in verse 24.