Numbers 13

The Spies Explore Canaan

1 The Lord said to Moses,

2 “Send men to explore the land of Canaan, which I will give to the Israelites. Send one leader from each tribe.”
3 So Moses obeyed the Lord’s command and sent the Israelite leaders out from the Desert of Paran.4 These are their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur;5 from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori;6 from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh;7 from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph;8 from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun;9 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 the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the new name Joshua.)
17 Moses sent them to explore Canaan and said, “Go through southern Canaan and then into the mountains.18 See what the land looks like. Are the people who live there strong or weak? Are there a few or many?19 What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What about the towns they live in—are they open like camps, or do they have walls?

20 What about the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees there? Try to bring back some of the fruit from that land.” (It was the season for the first grapes.)
21 So they went up and explored the land, from the Desert of Zin all the way to Rehob by Lebo Hamath.22 They went through the southern area to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak lived. (The city of Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)23 In the Valley of Eshcol, they cut off a branch of a grapevine that had one bunch of grapes on it and carried that branch on a pole between two of them. They also got some pomegranates and figs.24 That place was called the Valley of Eshcol, 

25 After forty days of exploring the land, the men returned to the camp.
26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and all the Israelites at Kadesh, in the Desert of Paran. The men reported to them and showed everybody the fruit from the land.27 They told Moses, “We went to the land where you sent us, and it is a fertile land! Here is some of its fruit.28 But the people who live there are strong. Their cities are walled and very large. We even saw some Anakites there.

29 The Amalekites live in the southern area; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the mountains; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan River.”

30 Then Caleb told the people near Moses to be quiet, and he said, “We should certainly go up and take the land for ourselves. We can certainly do it.”
31 But the men who had gone with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”32 And those men gave the Israelites a bad report about the land they explored, saying, “The land that we explored is too large to conquer. All the people we saw are very tall.33 We saw the Nephilim people there. (The Anakites come from the Nephilim people.) We felt like grasshoppers, and we looked like grasshoppers to them.”

Numbers 13

1 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,2 Send thou men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a prince among them.3 And Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran according to the commandment of Jehovah: all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel.4 And these were their names: Of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur.5 Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori.6 Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.7 Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph.8 Of the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun.9 Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu.10 Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi.11 Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi.12 Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli.13 Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael.14 Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi.15 Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.16 These are the names of the men that Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.

17 And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way by the South, and go up into the hill-country:18 and see the land, what it is; and the people that dwell therein, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are 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 is 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 spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, to the entrance of Hamath.22 And they went up by the South, and came unto Hebron; and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)23 And they came unto the valley of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it upon a staff between two; they brought also of the pomegranates, and of the figs.24 That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the children of Israel cut down from thence.

25 And they returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days.26 And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.27 And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us; and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.28 Howbeit the people that dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.29 Amalek dwelleth in the land of the South: and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, dwell in the hill-country; and the Canaanite dwelleth by the sea, and along by the side of the Jordan.

30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome 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 up an evil report of the land which they had spied out unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature.33 And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come of the Nephilim: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.