Spies Sent into Canaan

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the people of Israel.

These were the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.

Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up into the Negeb and go up into the hill country,

And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land—

And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and they said, “We will not come up.

And Moses said, “Hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and that it has not been of my own accord.

If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me.

Edom Refuses Passage

Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: “Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the hardship that we have met:

And when we cried to the Lord, he heard our voice and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. And here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory.

Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.

King Sihon Defeated

Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying,

And Moses sent to spy out Jazer, and they captured its villages and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.

sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor, which is near the River in the land of the people of Amaw, to call him, saying, “Behold, a people has come out of Egypt. They cover the face of the earth, and they are dwelling opposite me.

And Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me, saying,

Once again Balak sent princes, more in number and more honourable than these.

And Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep, and sent for Balaam and for the princes who were with him.

And Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not tell your messengers whom you sent to me,

And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe, together with Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand.

Your fathers did this, when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land.