1And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them. 3And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel. 4And these were their names: of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur. 5Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori. 6Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. 7Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph. 8Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea the son of Nun.13.8 Oshea: also called, Joshua 9Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu. 10Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi. 11Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi. 12Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli. 13Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael. 14Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi. 15Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi. 16These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua.13.16 Oshea: also called Joshua13.16 Jehoshua: or, Joshua
17¶ And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain: 18And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; 19And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds; 20And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes.
21¶ So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath. 22And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 23And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.13.23 brook: or, valley 24The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence.13.24 brook: or, valley13.24 Eshcol: that is, A cluster of grapes 25And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.
26¶ And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land. 27And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. 28Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. 29The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. 30And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. 31But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. 32And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.13.32 men…: Heb. men of statures 33And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
Twelve Men Check Out the Land of Canaan
1The Lord said to Moses, 2“Send some men to check out the land of Canaan. I am giving it to the Israelites. Send one leader from each of Israel’s tribes.”
3So Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. He sent them as the Lord had commanded. All of them were leaders of the Israelites.
4Here are their names.
There was Shammua from the tribe of Reuben. Shammua was the son of Zakkur.
5There was Shaphat from the tribe of Simeon. Shaphat was the son of Hori.
6There was Caleb from the tribe of Judah. Caleb was the son of Jephunneh.
7There was Igal from the tribe of Issachar. Igal was the son of Joseph.
8There was Hoshea from the tribe of Ephraim. Hoshea was the son of Nun.
9There was Palti from the tribe of Benjamin. Palti was the son of Raphu.
10There was Gaddiel from the tribe of Zebulun. Gaddiel was the son of Sodi.
11There was Gaddi from the tribe of Manasseh. Gaddi was the son of Susi. Manasseh was a tribe of Joseph.
12There was Ammiel from the tribe of Dan. Ammiel was the son of Gemalli.
13There was Sethur from the tribe of Asher. Sethur was the son of Michael.
14There was Nahbi from the tribe of Naphtali. Nahbi was the son of Vophsi.
15There was Geuel from the tribe of Gad. Geuel was the son of Maki.
16Those are the men Moses sent to check out the land. He gave the name Joshua to Hoshea, the son of Nun.
17Moses sent the 12 men to check out Canaan. He said, “Go up through the Negev Desert. Go on into the central hill country. 18See what the land is like. See whether the people who live there are strong or weak. See whether they are few or many. 19What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Do the towns have high walls around them or not? 20How is the soil? Is it rich land or poor land? Are there trees in it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.” It was the season for the first ripe grapes.
21So the men went up and checked out the land. They went from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob. It was in the direction of Lebo Hamath. 22They went up through the Negev Desert and came to Hebron. That’s where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai lived. They belonged to the family line of Anak. Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan. Zoan was a city in Egypt. 23The men came to the Valley of Eshkol. There they cut off a branch that had a single bunch of grapes on it. Two of them carried it on a pole between them. They carried some pomegranates and figs along with it. 24That place was called the Valley of Eshkol. That’s because the men of Israel cut off a bunch of grapes there. 25At the end of 40 days, the men returned from checking out the land.
The Men Report on What They Found
26The men came back to Moses, Aaron and the whole community of Israel. The people were at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There the men reported to Moses and Aaron and all the people. They showed them the fruit of the land. 27They gave Moses their report. They said, “We went into the land you sent us to. It really does have plenty of milk and honey! Here’s some fruit from the land. 28But the people who live there are powerful. Their cities have high walls around them and are very large. We even saw members of the family line of Anak there. 29The Amalekites live in the Negev Desert. The Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the central hill country. The Canaanites live near the Mediterranean Sea. They also live along the Jordan River.”
30Then Caleb interrupted the men speaking to Moses. He said, “We should go up and take the land. We can certainly do it.”
31But the men who had gone up with him spoke. They said, “We can’t attack those people. They are stronger than we are.” 32The men spread a bad report about the land among the Israelites. They said, “The land we checked out destroys those who live in it. All the people we saw there are very big and tall. 33We saw the Nephilim there. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes. And that’s also how we seemed to them.” The family line of Anak came from the Nephilim.
