Numbers 13 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

Spies Sent into Canaan

(Deu 1:19–33 )

Num 13:1The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

Num 13:2“Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.”

Num 13:3

Num 13:3So 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.

Num 13:4

Num 13:4And these were their names: From the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur;

Num 13:5

Num 13:5from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori;

Num 13:6

Num 13:6from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh;

Num 13:7

Num 13:7from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph;

Num 13:8

Num 13:8from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun;

Num 13:9

Num 13:9from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu;

Num 13:10

Num 13:10from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi;

Num 13:11

Num 13:11from the tribe of Joseph (that is, from the tribe of Manasseh), Gaddi the son of Susi;

Num 13:12

Num 13:12from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli;

Num 13:13

Num 13:13from the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael;

Num 13:14

Num 13:14from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi;

Num 13:15

Num 13:15from the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.

Num 13:16

Num 13:16These were the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.

Num 13:17

Num 13:17Moses 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,

Num 13:18

Num 13:18and see what the land is, and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many,

Num 13:19

Num 13:19and whether the land that they dwell in is good or bad, and whether the cities that they dwell in are camps or strongholds,

Num 13:20

Num 13:20and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.

Num 13:21

Num 13:21So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, near Lebo-hamath.

Num 13:22

Num 13:22They went up into the Negeb and came to Hebron. Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there. (Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

Num 13:23

Num 13:23And they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs.

Num 13:24

Num 13:24That place was called the Valley of Eshcol,[fn] because of the cluster that the people of Israel cut down from there.

Report of the Spies

Num 13:25

Num 13:25At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land.

Num 13:26

Num 13:26And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.

Num 13:27

Num 13:27And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

Num 13:28

Num 13:28However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there.

Num 13:29

Num 13:29The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.”

Num 13:30

Num 13:30But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.”

Num 13:31

Num 13:31Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.”

Num 13:32

Num 13:32So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height.

Num 13:33

Num 13:33And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”

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ESV Footnotes

(13:24)

Eshcol means cluster

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