Numbers 13:1–31

Spies Sent into Canaan

13And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^2a“Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.”

³So Moses sent them ^bfrom the Wilderness of Paran according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel. ⁴Now these were their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur; ⁵from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori; ^6cfrom the tribe of Judah, ^dCaleb the son of Jephunneh; ⁷from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph; ⁸from the tribe of Ephraim, ¹Hoshea the son of Nun; ⁹from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu; ¹⁰from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi; ¹¹from the tribe of Joseph, that is, from the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi; ¹²from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli; ¹³from the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael; ¹⁴from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi; ¹⁵from the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.

¹⁶These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to ²spy out the land. And Moses called ^eHoshea ³the son of Nun, Joshua.

¹⁷Then Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, “Go up this way into the South, and go up to ^fthe mountains, ¹⁸and see what the land is like: whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, few or many; ¹⁹whether the land they dwell in is good or bad; whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or strongholds; ²⁰whether the land is ⁴rich or poor; and whether there are forests there or not. ^gBe of good courage. And bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.

²¹So they went up and spied out the land ^hfrom the Wilderness of Zin as far as ⁱRehob, near the entrance of ^jHamath. ²²And they went up through the South and came to ^kHebron; Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of ^lAnak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) ^23mThen they came to the ⁵Valley of Eshcol, and there cut down a branch with one cluster of grapes; they carried it between two of them on a pole. They also brought some of the pomegranates and figs. ²⁴The place was called the Valley of ⁶Eshcol, because of the cluster which the men of Israel cut down there. ²⁵And they returned from spying out the land after forty days.

²⁶Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran, at ⁿKadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. ²⁷Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly ⁷flows with ^omilk and honey, ^pand this is its fruit. ²⁸Nevertheless the ^qpeople who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of ^rAnak there. ^29sThe Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.”

³⁰Then ^tCaleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”

^31uBut 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.”