²⁸ But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large.^(A) We even saw descendants of Anak^(B) there.^(C)

²⁹ The Amalekites^(A) live in the Negev; the Hittites,^(B) Jebusites^(C) and Amorites^(D) live in the hill country;^(E) and the Canaanites^(F) live near the sea and along the Jordan.^(G)”

³¹ But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”^{(A) 32} And they spread among the Israelites a bad report^(B) about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours^(C) those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size.^{(D) 33} We saw the Nephilim^(E) there (the descendants of Anak^(F) come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers^(G) in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

The People Rebel

14 That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud.^{(A) 2} All the Israelites grumbled^(B) against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt!^(C) Or in this wilderness!^{(D) 3} Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword?^(E) Our wives and children^(F) will be taken as plunder.^(G) Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?^(H)” ⁴ And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.^(I)”