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.

Numbers 13

Twelve men are sent into Canaan

Twelve men are sent into Canaan

(Deuteronomy 1.19-33)

1 The Lord said to Moses,

2 “Choose a leader from each tribe and send them into Canaan to explore the land I am giving you.”
3 So Moses sent twelve tribal leaders from Israel's camp in the Paran Desert

4-16 with orders to explore the land of Canaan. And here are their names:
Shammua son of Zaccur from Reuben,
Shaphat son of Hori from Simeon,
Caleb son of Jephunneh from Judah,
Igal son of Joseph from Issachar,
Joshua son of Nun from Ephraim,t
Palti son of Raphu from Benjamin,
Gaddiel son of Sodi from Zebulun,
Gaddi son of Susi from Manasseh,
Ammiel son of Gemalli from Dan,
Sethur son of Michael from Asher,
Nahbi son of Vophsi from Naphtali,
and Geuel son of Machi from Gad.

17 Before Moses sent them into Canaan, he said:
After you go through the Southern Desert of Canaan, continue north into the hill country 18 and find out what those regions are like. Be sure to remember how many people live there, how strong they are,

19-20 and if they live in open towns or walled cities. See if the land is good for growing crops and find out what kinds of trees grow there. It's time for grapes to ripen, so try to bring back some of the fruit that grows there.
21 The twelve men left to explore Canaan from the Zin Desert in the south all the way to the town of Rehob near Lebo-Hamath in the north. 22 As they went through the Southern Desert, they came to the town of Hebron, which was seven years older than the Egyptian town of Zoan. In Hebron, they saw the three Anakimt clans of Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai.

23-24 When they got to Bunch Valley,t they cut off a branch with such a huge bunch of grapes, that it took two men to carry it on a pole. That's why the place was called Bunch Valley. Along with the grapes, they also took back pomegranatest and figs.

The men report back to the people

27 and said:
Look at this fruit! The land we explored is rich with milk and honey. 28 But the people who live there are strong, and their cities are large and walled. We even saw the three Anakimt clans.

29 Besides that, the Amalekites live in the Southern Desert; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites are in the hill country; and the Canaanitest live along the Mediterranean Sea and the River Jordan.

30 Caleb calmed down the crowd and said, “Let's go and take the land. I know we can do it!”
31 But the other men replied, “Those people are much too strong for us.” 32 Then they started spreading rumours and saying, “We won't be able to grow anything in that soil. And the people are like giants. 33 In fact, we saw the Nephilim who are the ancestors of the Anakim. They were so big that we felt as small as grasshoppers.”t