Numbers 13
1Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
2“Send men to search out the land of Canaan that I am giving to the children of Israel. Send for yourselves a man from every tribe of their fathers, every one among them is to be a leader.”
3Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran according to the mouth of Yahweh. All the men were leaders of the children of Israel.
4These were their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur;
5from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hor;
6from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh;
7from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph;
8from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea 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, of 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 who Moses sent to search out the land. And Moses renamed Hoshea the son of Nun, “Joshua.”
17Moses sent them to search out the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up this way, through the Negev, and go up into the hill country
18and see the land, what it is like, and the people who live in it, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are few or many;
19and what the land is like that they live in, whether it is good or bad, and what cities are there that they live in, whether in unwalled camps or in strongholds;
20and what the land is like, whether it is fat or lean, whether there are trees in it or not. Be courageous, and bring back some of the fruit of the land” (now the time was the time of the first-ripe grapes).
21So they went up and searched out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, near Lebo-hamath.
22They went up through the Negev and came to the city of Hebron; and Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the sons of Anak, were there. (Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
23They came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a staff between two. They also brought some of the pomegranates and figs.
24That place was called the Valley of Eshcol because of the cluster of grapes that the children of Israel cut down from there.
25And at the end of 40 days they returned from searching out the land.
26They went and came to Moses and to Aaron and to all the congregation of the children of Israel in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh, and brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land.
27They told him, and said, “We came to the land where you sent us, and indeed it is flowing with milk and honey, and this is the fruit from it.
28However the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And also we saw the children of Anak there.
29Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negev, and the Hittite and the Jebusite and the Amorite dwell in the hill country; and the Canaanite dwells by the Mediterranean Sea, and along by the side of the Jordan River.”
30Caleb silenced the people who were in the presence of Moses and said, “Let us go up, yes, go up and possess it; for we will be able, yes, able to conquer it.”
31But the men who went up with him said, “We will not be able to go up and conquer the people, because they are stronger than we are.”
32So they brought an evil report of the land that they had searched out to the children of Israel, saying, “The land through which we have gone to search it out is a land that eats up its inhabitants, and all the people who we saw in it are men of great size.
33And we saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim), and in our own eyes we seemed like grasshoppers, and we seemed that way in their eyes.”