^1:22So all of you approached me and said, “Let’s send some men ahead of us to scout out the land and bring us back word as to how we should attack it and what the cities are like there.” ^1:23I thought this was a good idea,⁵⁵ so I sent⁵⁶ twelve men from among you, one from each tribe. ^1:24They left and went up to the hill country, coming to the Eshcol Valley,⁵⁷ which they scouted out. ^1:25Then they took⁵⁸ some of the produce of the land and carried it back down to us. They also brought a report to us, saying, “The land that the Lord our God is about to give us is good.”

Disobedience at Kadesh Barnea

^1:26You were not willing to go up, however, but instead rebelled against the Lord your God.⁵⁹^1:27You complained among yourselves privately⁶⁰ and said, “Because the Lord hates us he brought us from Egypt to deliver us over to the Amorites so they could destroy us! ^1:28What is going to happen to us? Our brothers have drained away our courage⁶¹ by describing people who are more numerous⁶² and taller than we are, and great cities whose defenses appear to be as high as heaven⁶³ itself! Moreover, they said they saw⁶⁴ Anakites⁶⁵ there.”

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Footnotes

55 Heb “the thing was good in my eyes.”
56 Or “selected” (so , , ); Heb “took.”
57 Or “the Wadi Eshcol” (so ). The Eshcol Valley is a verdant valley near Hebron, still famous for its viticulture (cf. Num 13:22–23). The Hebrew name “Eshcol” means “trestle,” that is, the frame on which grape vines grow.
58 The Hebrew text includes “in their hand,” which is unnecessary and somewhat redundant in English style.
59 Heb “the mouth of the Lord your God.” To include “the mouth” would make for odd English style. The mouth stands by metonymy for the Lord’s command, which in turn represents the Lord himself.
60 Heb “in your tents,” that is, privately.
61 Heb “have caused our hearts to melt.”
62 Heb “greater.” Many English versions understand this to refer to physical size or strength rather than numbers (cf. “stronger,” , , ; “bigger,” ).
63 Or “as the sky.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
64 Heb “we have seen.”
65 Heb “the sons of the Anakim.” Anakites were giant people (Num 13:33; Deut 2:10, 21; 9:2) descended from a certain Anak whose own forefather Arba founded the city of Kiriath Arba, i.e., Hebron (Josh 21:11).