Numbers 13
13
The Spies Go to Canaan
1The Lord said to Moses, 2“Send some men to explore the land of Canaan. I will give this land to the Israelites. Send one leader from each of the twelve tribes.”
3So Moses obeyed the Lord’s command and sent out the Israelite leaders while the people were camped in the desert of Paran. 4These are their names:
from the tribe of Reuben—Shammua son of Zaccur;
5from the tribe of Simeon—Shaphat son of Hori;
6from the tribe of Judah—Caleb son of Jephunneh;
7from the tribe of Issachar—Igal son of Joseph;
8from the tribe of Ephraim—Hoshea#13:8 Hoshea Or “Joshua.” son of Nun;
9from the tribe of Benjamin—Palti son of Raphu;
10from the tribe of Zebulun—Gaddiel son of Sodi;
11from the tribe of Manasseh (a tribe from Joseph)—Gaddi son of Susi;
12from the tribe of Dan—Ammiel son of Gemalli;
13from the tribe of Asher—Sethur son of Michael;
14from the tribe of Naphtali—Nahbi son of Vophsi;
15from the tribe of Gad—Geuel son of Maki.
16These are the names of the men Moses sent to look at and study the land. (Moses called Hoshea son of Nun by another name. Moses called him Joshua.)
17When Moses was sending them out to explore Canaan, he said, “Go through the Negev and then into the hill country. 18See what the land looks like. Learn about the people who live there. Are they strong or are they weak? Are they few or are they many? 19Learn about the land that they live in. Is it good land or bad land? What kind of towns do they live in? Do the towns have walls protecting them? Are the towns strongly defended? 20And learn other things about the land. Is the soil good for growing things, or is it poor soil? Are there trees on the land? Try to bring back some of the fruit from that land.” (This was during the time when the first grapes should be ripe.)
21So they went to explore the country. They explored the area from the desert of Zin to Rehob and Lebo Hamath. 22They entered the country through the Negev and went to Hebron. (The town of Hebron was built seven years before the town of Zoan in Egypt.) Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai lived there. These men were descendants of Anak. 23Then the men went to Eshcol Valley. There they cut off a branch from a grapevine that had a bunch of grapes on it. They put that branch on a pole, and two men carried it between them. They also carried some pomegranates and figs. 24That place is called the Eshcol#13:24 Eshcol This name is like the Hebrew word meaning “a bunch of grapes.” Valley, because there the men of Israel cut off the bunch of grapes.
25The men explored that country for 40 days, and then they went back to the camp. 26The Israelites were camped near Kadesh, in the desert of Paran. The men went to Moses and Aaron and all the Israelites. They told Moses, Aaron, and all the people what they saw and showed them the fruit from the land. 27The men told Moses, “We went to the land where you sent us. It is a land filled with many good things#13:27 land … things Literally, “land flowing with milk and honey.” Also in 14:8.! Here is some of the fruit that grows there. 28But the people living there are very powerful. The cities are very large and strongly defended. We even saw some Anakites there. 29The Amalekites live in the Negev. The Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live near the sea and by the Jordan River.”
30Caleb told the people near Moses to be quiet. Then Caleb said, “We should go up and take that land for ourselves. We can easily take that land.”
31But the men who had gone with him said, “We cannot fight those people! They are much stronger than we are.” 32So those men gave a report that discouraged the people. They said, “The land we saw is full of strong people. They are strong enough to easily defeat anyone who goes there. 33We saw the giant Nephilim people there! (The descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim.) We felt like little grasshoppers. Yes, we were like grasshoppers to them!”
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Numbers 13
13
Scouting Out Canaan
1-2 God spoke to Moses: “Send men to scout out the country of Canaan that I am giving to the People of Israel. Send one man from each ancestral tribe, each one a tried-and-true leader in the tribe.”
3-15So Moses sent them off from the Wilderness of Paran at the command of God. All of them were leaders in Israel, one from each tribe. These were their names:
from Reuben: Shammua son of Zaccur
from Simeon: Shaphat son of Hori
from Judah: Caleb son of Jephunneh
from Issachar: Igal son of Joseph
from Ephraim: Hoshea son of Nun
from Benjamin: Palti son of Raphu
from Zebulun: Gaddiel son of Sodi
from Manasseh (a Joseph tribe): Gaddi son of Susi
from Dan: Ammiel son of Gemalli
from Asher: Sethur son of Michael
from Naphtali: Nahbi son of Vophsi
from Gad: Geuel son of Maki.
16These are the names of the men Moses sent to scout out the land. Moses gave Hoshea (Salvation) son of Nun a new name—Joshua (God-Saves).
17-20When Moses sent them off to scout out Canaan, he said, “Go up through the Negev and then into the hill country. Look the land over, see what it is like. Assess the people: Are they strong or weak? Are there few or many? Observe the land: Is it pleasant or harsh? Describe the towns where they live: Are they open camps or fortified with walls? And the soil: Is it fertile or barren? Are there forests? And try to bring back a sample of the produce that grows there—this is the season for the first ripe grapes.”
21-25With that they were on their way. They scouted out the land from the Wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob toward Lebo Hamath. Their route went through the Negev Desert to the town of Hebron. Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, descendants of the giant Anak, lived there. Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt. When they arrived at the Eshcol Valley they cut off a branch with a single cluster of grapes—it took two men to carry it—slung on a pole. They also picked some pomegranates and figs. They named the place Eshcol Valley (Grape-Cluster-Valley) because of the huge cluster of grapes they had cut down there. After forty days of scouting out the land, they returned home.
26-27a They presented themselves before Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation of the People of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They reported to the whole congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. Then they told the story of their trip:
27b-29 “We went to the land to which you sent us and, oh! It does flow with milk and honey! Just look at this fruit! The only thing is that the people who live there are fierce, their cities are huge and well fortified. Worse yet, we saw descendants of the giant Anak. Amalekites are spread out in the Negev; Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites hold the hill country; and the Canaanites are established on the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan.”
30Caleb interrupted, called for silence before Moses and said, “Let’s go up and take the land—now. We can do it.”
31-33But the others said, “We can’t attack those people; they’re way stronger than we are.” They spread scary rumors among the People of Israel. They said, “We scouted out the land from one end to the other—it’s a land that swallows people whole. Everybody we saw was huge. Why, we even saw the Nephilim giants (the Anak giants come from the Nephilim). Alongside them we felt like grasshoppers. And they looked down on us as if we were grasshoppers.”
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.