Numbers 13–14

¹And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, ²‘Send for thee men, and they spy the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel; one man, one man for the tribe of his fathers ye do send, every one a prince among them.’ ³And Moses sendeth them from the wilderness of Paran by the command of Jehovah; all of them are men, heads of the sons of Israel they are, ⁴and these their names: For the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur. ⁵For the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori. ⁶For the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh. ⁷For the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph. ⁸For the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea, son of Nun. ⁹For the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu. ¹⁰For the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi. ¹¹For the tribe of Joseph, (for the tribe of Manasseh,) Gaddi son of Susi. ¹²For the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli. ¹³For the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael. ¹⁴For the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vopshi. ¹⁵For the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Machi. ¹⁶These are the names of the men whom Moses hath sent to spy the land; and Moses calleth Hoshea son of Nun, Jehoshua. ¹⁷And Moses sendeth them to spy the land of Canaan, and saith unto them, ‘Go ye up this way into the south, and ye have gone up the mountain, ¹⁸and have seen the land what it is, and the people which is dwelling on it, whether it is strong or feeble; whether it is few or many; ¹⁹and what the land is in which it is dwelling, whether it is good or bad; and what are the cities in which it is dwelling, whether in camps or in fortresses; ²⁰And what the land is, whether it is fat or lean; whether there is wood in it or not; and ye have strengthened yourselves, and have taken of the fruit of the land;’ and the days are days of the first-fruits of grapes.

²¹And they go up and spy the land, from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob at the going in to Hamath; ²²and they go up by the south, and come in unto Hebron, and there are Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, children of Anak (and Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt), ²³and they come in unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down thence a branch and one cluster of grapes, and they bear it on a staff by two, also some of the pomegranates, and of the figs. ²⁴That place hath one called Brook of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the sons of Israel cut from thence. ²⁵And they turn back from spying the land at the end of forty days.

²⁶And they go and come in unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto all the company of the sons of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and they bring them and all the company back word, and shew them the fruit of the land. ²⁷And they recount to him, and say, ‘We came in unto the land whither thou hast sent us, and also it is flowing with milk and honey—and this is its fruit; ²⁸only, surely the people which is dwelling in the land is strong; and the cities are fenced, very great; and also children of Anak we have seen there. ²⁹Amalek is dwelling in the land of the south, and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite is dwelling in the hill country, and the Canaanite is dwelling by the sea, and by the side of the Jordan.’ ³⁰And Caleb stilleth the people concerning Moses, and saith, ‘Let us certainly go up—and we have possessed it; for we are thoroughly able for it.’ ³¹And the men who have gone up with him said, ‘We are not able to go up against the people, for it is stronger than we;’ ³²and they bring out an evil account of the land which they have spied unto the sons of Israel, saying, ‘The land into which we passed over to spy it, is a land eating up its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in its midst are men of stature; ³³and there we saw the Nephilim, sons of Anak, of the Nephilim; and we are in our own eyes as grasshoppers; and so we were in their eyes.’

Chapter 14

¹And all the company lifteth up and give forth their voice, and the people weep during that night; ²and all the sons of Israel murmur against Moses, and against Aaron, and all the company say unto them, ‘O that we had died in the land of Egypt, or in this wilderness, O that we had died! ³and why is Jehovah bringing us in unto this land to fall by the sword? our wives and our infants are become a prey; is it not good for us to turn back to Egypt?’ ⁴And they say one unto another, ‘Let us appoint a head, and turn back to Egypt.’

⁵And Moses falleth—Aaron also—on their faces, before all the assembly of the company of the sons of Israel. ⁶And Joshua son of Nun, and Caleb son of Jephunneh, of those spying the land, have rent their garments, ⁷and they speak unto all the company of the sons of Israel, saying, ‘The land into which we have passed over to spy it, is a very very good land; ⁸if Jehovah hath delighted in us, then He hath brought us in unto this land, and hath given it to us, a land which is flowing with milk and honey; ⁹only, against Jehovah rebel not ye: and ye, fear not ye the people of the land, for our bread they are; their defence hath turned aside from off them, and Jehovah is with us; fear them not.’ ¹⁰And all the company say to stone them with stones, and the honour of Jehovah hath appeared in the tent of meeting unto all the sons of Israel.

¹¹And Jehovah saith unto Moses, ‘Until when doth this people despise Me? and until when do they not believe in Me, for all the signs which I have done in its midst? ¹²I smite it with pestilence, and dispossess it, and make thee become a nation greater and mightier than it.’ ¹³And Moses saith unto Jehovah, ‘Then have the Egyptians heard! for Thou hast brought up with Thy power this people out of their midst, ¹⁴and they have said it unto the inhabitant of this land, they have heard that Thou, Jehovah, art in the midst of this people, that eye to eye Thou art seen—O Jehovah, and Thy cloud is standing over them,—and in a pillar of cloud Thou art going before them by day, and in a pillar of fire by night.

¹⁵‘And Thou hast put to death this people as one man, and the nations who have heard Thy fame have spoken, saying, ¹⁶From Jehovah’s want of ability to bring in this people unto the land which He hath sworn to them—He doth slaughter them in the wilderness.

¹⁷‘And now, let, I pray Thee, the power of my Lord be great, as Thou hast spoken, saying: ¹⁸Jehovah is slow to anger, and of great kindness; bearing away iniquity and transgression, and not entirely acquitting, charging iniquity of fathers on sons, on a third generation, and on a fourth;— ¹⁹forgive, I pray Thee, the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of Thy kindness, and as Thou hast borne with this people from Egypt, even until now.’

²⁰And Jehovah saith, ‘I have forgiven, according to thy word; ²¹and yet, I live—and it is filled—the whole earth—with the honour of Jehovah; ²²for all the men who are seeing My honour, and My signs, which I have done in Egypt, and in the wilderness, and try Me these ten times, and have not hearkened to My voice— ²³they see not the land which I have sworn to their fathers, yea, none of those despising Me see it; ²⁴and My servant Caleb, because there hath been another spirit with him, and he is fully after Me—I have brought him in unto the land whither he hath entered, and his seed doth possess it.

²⁵‘And the Amalekite and the Canaanite are dwelling in the valley; to-morrow turn ye and journey for yourselves into the wilderness—the way of the Red Sea.’ ²⁶And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, and unto Aaron, saying, ²⁷‘Until when hath this evil company that which they are murmuring against Me? the murmurings of the sons of Israel, which they are murmuring against Me, I have heard; ²⁸say unto them, I live—an affirmation of Jehovah—if, as ye have spoken in Mine ears—so I do not to you; ²⁹in this wilderness do your carcases fall, even all your numbered ones, to all your number, from a son of twenty years and upward, who have murmured against Me; ³⁰ye—ye come not in unto the land which I have lifted up My hand to cause you to tabernacle in it, except Caleb son of Jephunneh, and Joshua son of Nun.

³¹‘As to your infants—of whom ye have said, A spoil they are become—I have even brought them in, and they have known the land which ye have kicked against; ³²as to you—your carcases do fall in this wilderness, ³³and your sons are evil in the wilderness forty years, and have borne your whoredoms till your carcases are consumed in the wilderness; ³⁴by the number of the days in which ye spied the land, forty days,—a day for a year, a day for a year—ye do bear your iniquities, forty years, and ye have known my breaking off; ³⁵I am Jehovah, I have spoken; if I do not this to all this evil company who are meeting against me;—in this wilderness they are consumed, and there they die.’

³⁶And the men whom Moses hath sent to spy the land, and they turn back and cause all the company to murmur against him, by bringing out an evil account concerning the land, ³⁷even the men bringing out an evil account of the land die by the plague before Jehovah; ³⁸and Joshua son of Nun, and Caleb son of Jephunneh, have lived of those men who go to spy out the land. ³⁹And Moses speaketh these words unto all the sons of Israel, and the people mourn exceedingly, ⁴⁰and they rise early in the morning, and go up unto the top of the mountain, saying, ‘Here we are, and we have come up unto the place which Jehovah hath spoken of, for we have sinned.’ ⁴¹And Moses saith, ‘Why is this?—ye are transgressing the command of Jehovah, and it doth not prosper; ⁴²go not up, for Jehovah is not in your midst, and ye are not smitten before your enemies; ⁴³for the Amalekite and the Canaanite are there before you, and ye have fallen by the sword, because that ye have turned back from after Jehovah, and Jehovah is not with you.’ ⁴⁴And they presume to go up unto the top of the mountain, and the ark of the covenant of Jehovah and Moses have not departed out of the midst of the camp. ⁴⁵And the Amalekite and the Canaanite who are dwelling in that mountain come down and smite them, and beat them down—unto Hormah.

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