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13 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

Send thou men, that they may search out the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel. Ye shall send a man of every tribe of his fathers, each a prince among them.

And Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran: according to the commandment of Jehovah, all of them heads of the children of Israel.

And these are their names: for the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur;

for the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori;

for the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh;

for the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph;

for the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun;

for the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu;

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

11 for the tribe of Joseph, for the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi;

12 for the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli;

13 for the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael;

14 for the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi;

15 for the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.

16 These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to search out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Jehoshua.

17 And Moses sent them to search out the land of Canaan, and said to them, Go up this way by the south and go up into the hill-country,

18 and ye shall see the land, what it is; and the people that dwell in it, whether they are strong or weak, few or many;

19 and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it is good or bad; and what cities they are that they dwell in, whether in camps, or in strongholds;

20 and what the land is, whether it is fat or lean, whether there are trees in it, or not. And take courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first grapes.

21 And they went up, and searched out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, where one comes towards Hamath.

22 And they went up by the south, and came to Hebron; and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were there. Now Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.

23 And they came as far as the valley of Eshcol, and cut down thence a branch with one bunch of grapes, and they bore it between two upon a pole; and [they brought] of the pomegranates, and of the figs.

24 That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of the grapes which the children of Israel had cut down there.

25 And they returned from searching out the land after forty days.

26 And they came, and went to Moses and to Aaron, and to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, to the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word to them, and to the whole assembly; and shewed them the fruit of the land.

27 And they told him, and said, We came to the land to which thou didst send us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.

28 Only, the people are strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, very great; moreover we saw the children of Anak there.

29 Amalek dwells in the land of the south; and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill-country; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the side of the Jordan.

30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up boldly and possess it, for we are well able to do it.

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

32 And they brought to the children of Israel an evil report of the land which they had searched out, saying, The land, which we have passed through to search it out, is a land that eateth up its inhabitants; and all the people that we have seen in it are men of great stature;

33 and there have we seen giants—the sons of Anak are of the giants—and we were in our sight as grasshoppers, and so we were also 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.