Numbers 13:1–31

Exploring Canaan

13The Lord said to Moses, ²“Send some men to explore^e the land of Canaan,^f which I am giving to the Israelites.^g From each ancestral tribe^h send one of its leaders.”

³So at the Lord’s command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites.^{i 4}These are their names:

from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zakkur;

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

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

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

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

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

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

¹¹from the tribe of Manasseh (a tribe of Joseph), Gaddi son of Susi;

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

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

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

¹⁵from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki.

¹⁶These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore^l the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun^m the name Joshua.)ⁿ

¹⁷When Moses sent them to explore Canaan,^o he said, “Go up through the Negev^p and on into the hill country.^{q 18}See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. ¹⁹What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? ²⁰How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.^r” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)^s

²¹So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin^t as far as Rehob,^u toward Lebo Hamath.^{v 22}They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron,^w where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai,^x the descendants of Anak,^y lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)^{z 23}When they reached the Valley of Eshkol,^aa they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates^b and figs.^{c 24}That place was called the Valley of Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there. ²⁵At the end of forty days^d they returned from exploring the land.^e

Report on the Exploration

²⁶They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh^f in the Desert of Paran.^g There they reported to them^h and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land.^{i 27}They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey!^j Here is its fruit.^{k 28}But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large.^l We even saw descendants of Anak^m there.^{n 29}The Amalekites^o live in the Negev; the Hittites,^p Jebusites^q and Amorites^r live in the hill country;^s and the Canaanites^t live near the sea and along the Jordan.^u”

³⁰Then Caleb^v silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

³¹But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”^w