² “Send out for yourself men to spy out the land of Canaan,
which I am giving to the Israelites. From each of their
fathers’ tribes send one man who is a leader among them.”
³ So at the consent of the LORD, Moses sent them out from
the Wilderness of Paran. All the men were leaders of the
Israelites, ⁴ & these were their names:
● From the tribe of Reuben,Shammua son of Zaccur;
● ⁵ from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori;
● ⁶ from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh;
● ⁷ from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph;
● ⁸ from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun;
● ⁹ from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu;
● ¹⁰ from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi;
● ¹¹ from the tribe of Manasseh [a tribe of Joseph],
Gaddi son of Susi;
● ¹² from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli;
● ¹³ from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael;
● ¹⁴ from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi;
● ¹⁵ & from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Machi.
¹⁶ These were the names of the men Moses sent to spy out the
land; & Moses gave to Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua.
¹⁷ When Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, he
told them, “Go up through the Negev & into the hill country.
¹⁸ See what the land is like & whether its people are strong or
weak, few or many. ¹⁹ Is the land where they live good or
bad?
Are the cities where they dwell open camps or fortifications?
²⁰ Is the soil fertile or unproductive?
Are there trees in it or not?
Be courageous, & bring back some of the fruit of the land.”
[It was the season for the 1st ripe grapes.]
²¹ So they went up & spied out the land from the Wilderness
of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo-hamath.
²² They went up through the Negev & came to Hebron, where
Ahiman, Sheshai, & Talmai, the descendants of Anak, dwelled.
It had been built 7 years before Zoan in Egypt.
²³ When they came to the Valley of Eshcol, they cut down a
branch with a single cluster of grapes, which they
carried on a pole between 2 men.
They also took some pomegranates & figs.
²⁴ Because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut there,
that place was called the Valley of Eshcol.
Report of the Spies
²⁵ After forty days the men returned from spying out the land,
²⁶ & they went back to Moses, Aaron, & the whole congregation
of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh.
They brought back a report for the whole congregation &
showed them the fruit of the land.
²⁷ And they gave this account to Moses:
“We went into the land to which you sent us, & indeed, it is
flowing with milk & honey. Here is some of its fruit!
²⁸ Nevertheless, the people living in the land are strong, &
the cities are large & fortified. We even saw the
descendants of Anak there.
²⁹ The Amalekites live in the land of the Negev; the
Hittites, Jebusites, & Amorites live in the hill country; &
the Canaanites live by the sea & along the Jordan.”
³⁰ Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses & said,
“We must go up & take possession of the land, for
we can certainly conquer it!”
³¹ But the men who had gone up with him replied,
“We cannot go up against the people, for they are
stronger than we are!” ³² So they gave the Israelites a
bad report about the land they had spied out:
“The land we explored devours its inhabitants, & all
the people we saw there are great in stature.
³³ We even saw the Nephilim there—the descendants
of Anak that come from the Nephilim!
We seemed like grasshoppers in our own sight, &
we must have seemed the same to them!”
