Numbers 13
13
Leaders explore the land of Canaan
1The LORD spoke to Moses: 2Send out men to explore the land of Canaan, which I’m giving to the Israelites. Send one man from each ancestral tribe, each a chief among them. 3So Moses sent them out from the Paran desert according to the LORD’s command. All the men were leaders among the Israelites. 4These are their names:
from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua, Zaccur’s son;
5from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat, Hori’s son;
6from the tribe of Judah, Caleb, Jephunneh’s son;
7from the tribe of Issachar, Igal, Joseph’s son;
8from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea, Nun’s son;
9from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti, Raphu’s son;
10from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel, Sodi’s son;
11from the tribe of Joseph:
from the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi, Susi’s son;
12from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel, Gemalli’s son;
13from the tribe of Asher, Sethur, Michael’s son;
14from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi, Vophsi’s son;
15from the tribe of Gad, Geuel, Machi’s son.
16These are the names of the men whom Moses sent out to explore the land. Moses changed the name of Hoshea, Nun’s son, to Joshua.
17When Moses sent them out to explore the land of Canaan, he said to them, “Go up there into the arid southern plain and into the mountains. 18You must inspect the land. What is it like? Are the people who live in it strong or weak, few or many? 19Is the land in which they live good or bad? Are the towns in which they live camps or fortresses? 20Is the land rich or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Be courageous and bring back the land’s fruit.” It was the season of the first ripe grapes.
21They went up and explored the land from the Zin desert to Rehob, near Lebo-hamath. 22They went up into the arid southern plain and entered Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of the Anakites, lived. (Hebron was built seven years before Tanis#13.22 Heb Zoan in Egypt.) 23Then they entered the Cluster#13.23 Or cluster of grapes ravine, cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and carried it on a pole between them. They also took pomegranates and figs. 24That place was called the Cluster ravine because of the cluster of grapes that the Israelites cut down from there.
Report about the land of Canaan
25They returned from exploring the land after forty days. 26They went directly to Moses, Aaron, and the entire Israelite community in the Paran desert at Kadesh. They brought back a report to them and to the entire community and showed them the land’s fruit. 27Then they gave their report: “We entered the land to which you sent us. It’s actually full of milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28There are, however, powerful people who live in the land. The cities have huge fortifications. And we even saw the descendants of the Anakites there. 29The Amalekites live in the land of the arid southern plain; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the mountains; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the Jordan.”
30Now Caleb calmed the people before Moses and said, “We must go up and take possession of it, because we are more than able to do it.”
31But the men who went up with him said, “We can’t go up against the people because they are stronger than we.” 32They started a rumor about the land that they had explored, telling the Israelites, “The land that we crossed over to explore is a land that devours its residents. All the people we saw in it are huge men. 33We saw there the Nephilim (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We saw ourselves as grasshoppers, and that’s how we appeared to them.”
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Numbers 13: CEB
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