Números 13

¹ Jehovah said to Moses:

² »Choose one of the leaders from each of the twelve tribes and send them as spies to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites.«

³ According to Jehovah’s command, Moses sent these men from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites.

⁴ These are their names: Shammua, son of Zaccur, from the tribe of Reuben,

⁵ Shaphat, son of Hori, from the tribe of Simeon;

⁶ Caleb, son of Jephunneh, from the tribe of Judah;

⁷ Igal, son of Joseph, from the tribe of Issachar;

⁸ Hoshea, son of Nun, from the tribe of Ephraim;

⁹ Palti, son of Raphu, from the tribe of Benjamin;

¹⁰ Gaddiel, son of Sodi, from the tribe of Zebulun;

¹¹ Gaddi, son of Susi, from the tribe of Joseph, that is, the tribe of Manasseh;

¹² Ammiel, son of Gemalli, from the tribe of Dan;

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

¹⁴ Nahbi, son of Vophsi, from the tribe of Naphtali;

¹⁵ and Geuel, son of Machi, from the tribe of Gad.

¹⁶ These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. But Moses gave Hoshea, son of Nun, the name Joshua.

¹⁷ When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he told them: »Go through the Negev and then into the mountain region.

¹⁸ »See what the land is like and whether the people there are strong or weak, few or many.

¹⁹ »Is the land they live in good or bad? Do their cities have walls around them or not?

²⁰ »Is the soil rich or poor? Does the land have trees or not? Do your best to bring back some fruit from the land.« It was the season when grapes were beginning to ripen.

²¹ So they spied on the land from the wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, at Lebo-hamath.

²² When they went to the Negev, they came to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak were. Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.

²³ At Eshcol Valley they cut off a branch with only one bunch of grapes on it. They carried it on a pole between two of them. They also brought some pomegranates and figs.

²⁴ So they called that valley Eshcol Bunch of Grapes because of the bunch of grapes the Israelites cut off there.

²⁵ Forty days later they returned from exploring the land.

²⁶ They returned to Moses, Aaron, and the whole congregation of Israel at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. They gave their report and showed them the fruit from the land.

²⁷ This is their report to Moses: »We went to the land where you sent us. It really is a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is some of its fruit.

²⁸ »The people who live there are strong. The cities have walls and are very large. We even saw the descendants of Anak there.

²⁹ »The Amalekites live in the Negev. The Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the mountain region. The Canaanites live along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and all along the Jordan River.«

³⁰ Caleb told the people to be quiet and listen to Moses. Caleb said: »Let us go now and take possession of the land. We should be more than able to conquer it.«

³¹ The men who had gone with him said: »We cannot attack those people! They are too strong for us!

³² »They spread lies among the Israelites about the land they had explored. They said: The land we explored is one that devours those who live there. All the people we saw there are very tall.

³³ »We saw Nephilim there. The descendants of Anak are Nephilim. We felt as small as grasshoppers. That is no doubt how we must have looked to them.«