Numbers - The Old Testament

¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

² 'Send out men, one from each tribe, to reconnoitre the land of Canaan which I am giving the Israelites. Each of them is to be a leading man of the tribe.'

³ At Yahweh's order, Moses sent them from the desert of Paran. All of them were leading men of Israel.

⁴ These were their names: For the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur:

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

⁶ for the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh;

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

⁸ for the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun;

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

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

¹¹ for the tribe of Joseph, for the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi son of Susi;

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

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

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

¹⁵ for the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Machi.

¹⁶ Such were the names of the men whom Moses sent to reconnoitre the country. Moses then gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua.

¹⁷ Moses sent them to reconnoitre the land of Canaan, 'Go up into the Negeb,' he said, 'then go up into the highlands.

¹⁸ See what sort of country it is, and what sort of people the inhabitants are, whether they are strong or weak, few or many,

¹⁹ what sort of land they live on, whether it is good or poor; what sort of towns they live in, whether they are open or fortified;

²⁰ what sort of land it is, fertile or barren, wooded or open. Be bold, and bring back some of the country's produce.' It was the season for early grapes.

²¹ They went up and reconnoitred the country from the desert of Zin to Rehob, the Pass of Hamath.

²² They went up by way of the Negeb as far as Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the Anakim, lived. (Hebron was founded seven years before Tanis in Egypt.)

²³ Reaching the Vale of Eshcol, there they lopped off a vine branch with a cluster of grapes, which two of them carried away on a pole, as well as pomegranates and figs.

²⁴ This place was called the Vale of Eshcol after the cluster which the Israelites cut there.

²⁵ After forty days they returned from reconnoitring the country.

²⁶ Making their way to Moses, Aaron and the whole community of Israel, in the desert of Paran, at Kadesh, they made their report to them and the whole community, and displayed the country's produce.

²⁷ This was the report they gave: 'We made our way into the country where you sent us. It does indeed flow with milk and honey; here is what it produces.

²⁸ At the same time, its inhabitants are a powerful people; the towns are fortified and very big; yes, and we saw the Anakim there.

²⁹ The Amalekites occupy the Negeb area, the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites the highlands, and the Canaanites the sea coast and the banks of the Jordan.'

³⁰ Caleb called the people round Moses to silence and then said, 'We must march in immediately and take it; we are certainly able to conquer it.'

³¹ But the men who had been with him said, 'We cannot attack these people; they are stronger than we are.'

³² And they began disparaging to the Israelites the country they had reconnoitred, saying, 'The country we have been to reconnoitre is a country that devours its inhabitants. All the people we saw there were of enormous size.

³³ We saw giants there too (the Anakim, descended from the Giants). We felt like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.'