The Spies Explore Canaan

13 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Send men to ·explore [spy on] the land of Canaan, which I will give to the ·Israelites [^Lsons/^Tchildren of Israel]. Send one leader from each tribe [Deut. 1:19–46].”

³ So Moses obeyed the Lord’s command and sent the ·Israelite leaders [^Lleaders of the sons/^Tchildren of Israel] out from the ·Desert [Wilderness] of Paran. ⁴ These are their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur; ⁵ from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori; ⁶ from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh; ⁷ from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph; ⁸ from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun; ⁹ from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu; ¹⁰ from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi; ¹¹ from the tribe of Manasseh (a tribe of Joseph), Gaddi son of Susi; ¹² from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli; ¹³ from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael; ¹⁴ from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi; ¹⁵ from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki.

¹⁶ These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the new name Joshua.)

¹⁷ Moses sent them to ·explore [spy on] Canaan and said, “Go through ·southern Canaan [the Negev] and then into the mountains. ¹⁸ See what the land looks like. Are the people who live there strong or weak? Are there a few or many? ¹⁹ What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What about the towns they live in—are they ·open like camps [unwalled], or do they have walls? ²⁰ What about the soil? Is it ·fertile [rich] or poor? ·Are there trees there [^LDoes it have trees or not]? ·Try to [or Be courageous and] bring back some of the fruit from that land.” (It was the season for the first grapes.)

²¹ So they went up and ·explored [spied on] the land, from the ·Desert [Wilderness] of Zin all the way to Rehob by Lebo Hamath. ²² They went through the ·southern area [Negev] to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai [Josh. 15:14; Judg. 1:10; 1 Chr. 9:17], the descendants of Anak lived [Deut. 1:28; 2:10–11, 21; 9:2; Josh. 11:21–22]. (The city of Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) ²³ In the Valley of Eshcol, they cut off a branch of a grapevine that had one bunch of grapes on it and carried that branch on a pole between two of them. They also got some pomegranates and figs. ²⁴ That place was called the Valley of Eshcol [^C“Bunch”], because the ·Israelites [^Lsons/^Tchildren of Israel] cut off the bunch of grapes there. ²⁵ After forty days of ·exploring [spying on] the land, the men returned to the camp.

²⁶ They came back to Moses and Aaron and all the ·Israelites [^Lcommunity/congregation/assembly of the sons/^Tchildren of Israel] at Kadesh, in the ·Desert [Wilderness] of Paran. The men reported to them and showed ·everybody [^Lall the community/congregation/assembly] the fruit from the land. ²⁷ They ·told [reported to] Moses, “We went to the land where you sent us, and it is a ·fertile land [^Lland flowing with milk and honey; Ex. 3:8]! Here is some of its fruit. ²⁸ But the people who live there are strong. Their cities are walled and very large. We even saw some Anakites there. ²⁹ The Amalekites live in the ·southern area [Negev; Ex. 17:8–16]; the Hittites, Jebusites [^Cinhabitants in and around Jerusalem], and Amorites live in the mountains; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan River.”

³⁰ Then Caleb told the people near Moses to be quiet, and he said, “We should certainly go up and take the land for ourselves. We can certainly do it.”

³¹ But the men who had gone with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” ³² And those men gave the ·Israelites [^Lsons/^Tchildren of Israel] a bad report about the land they ·explored [spied on], saying, “The land that we ·explored [spied on] ·is too large to conquer [^Ldevours its inhabitants]. All the people we saw are very tall. ³³ We saw the Nephilim people there [^Cperhaps named for the pre-flood people mentioned in Gen. 6:4]. (The Anakites come from the Nephilim people.) We felt like grasshoppers, and we looked like grasshoppers to them.”

The People Complain Again

14 That night all the ·people [community; congregation; assembly] in the camp began crying loudly. ² All the ·Israelites [^Lsons/^Tchildren of Israel] ·complained [grumbled] against Moses and Aaron, and all the ·people [community; congregation; assembly] said to them, “We wish we had died in Egypt or in this ·desert [wilderness]. ³ Why is the Lord bringing us to this land to ·be killed with [^Lmake us fall by] swords? Our wives and children will be ·taken away [war plunder]. We would be better off going back to Egypt.” ⁴ They said to each other, “Let’s choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

⁵ Then Moses and Aaron ·bowed [^Lfell] facedown in front of all the ·Israelites [^Lassembly/crowd of the community/congregation/assembly of the sons/^Tchildren of Israel] gathered there. ⁶ Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who had ·explored [spied on] the land, tore their clothes [^Critual of grief]. ⁷ They said to all of the ·Israelites [^Lcommunity/congregation/assembly of the sons/^Tchildren of Israel], “The land we ·explored [spied on] is very good. ⁸ If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land and give us that ·fertile land [^Lland flowing with milk and honey; Ex. 3:8]. ⁹ Don’t ·turn [rebel] against the Lord! Don’t be afraid of the people in that land! We will chew them up. They have no protection, but the Lord is with us. So don’t be afraid of them.”

¹⁰ Then all the ·people [community; congregation; assembly] talked about ·killing them with stones [stoning them]. But the glory of the Lord [^Crepresenting his manifest presence] appeared at the Meeting Tent to all the ·Israelites [^Lsons/^Tchildren of Israel]. ¹¹ The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people ·ignore [despise] me? How long will they not believe me in spite of the ·miracles [signs] I have done among them? ¹² I will ·give them a terrible sickness [^Lstrike them with disease/pestilence] and ·get rid of [disinherit; dispossess] them. But I will make you into a great nation that will be stronger than they are [Ex. 32:10].”

¹³ Then Moses said to the Lord, “The Egyptians will hear about it! You brought these people from there by your great power [Ex. 12–15], ¹⁴ and the Egyptians will tell this to those who live in this land [^CCanaan]. They have already heard about you, Lord. They know that you are with your people and that you were seen face to face. They know that your cloud [^Crepresenting God’s presence] stays over your people and that you lead your people with that cloud during the day and with fire at night [Ex. 13:20–22]. ¹⁵ If you put these people to death all at once, the nations who have heard about your power will say, ¹⁶ ‘The Lord was not able to bring them into the land he ·promised [swore to] them. So he ·killed [slaughtered] them in the ·desert [wilderness].’

¹⁷ “So show your strength now, Lord. Do what you said: ¹⁸ ‘The Lord ·doesn’t become angry quickly [is slow to anger], but he has great ·love [covenant love; loyalty; Ex. 34:6; Neh. 9:17; Ps. 86:15; 103:8; 145:8; Nah. 1:3]. He forgives sin and ·law breaking [transgression]. But the Lord never forgets to punish guilty people. ·When parents sin, he will also punish [^LHe visits the sin/iniquity/guilt of the fathers on] their children, their grandchildren, their great-grandchildren, and their great-great-grandchildren [Ex. 20:5–6].’ ¹⁹ By your great ·love [covenant love; loyalty], forgive these people’s sin, just as you have forgiven them from the time they left Egypt until now.”

²⁰ The Lord answered, “I have forgiven them as you asked. ²¹ But, as surely as I live and as surely as my glory fills the whole earth, I make this promise: ²² All these people saw my glory and the ·miracles [signs] I did in Egypt and in the ·desert [wilderness], but they ·disobeyed me [^Ldid not listen to my voice] and tested me ten times [^Csymbolic for many times]. ²³ So not one of them will see the land I ·promised [swore to give] to their ancestors. No one who ·rejected [despised] me will see that land. ²⁴ But my servant Caleb ·thinks differently [^Lhas a different spirit] and follows me completely. So I will bring him into the land he has already seen, and his ·children [seed] will ·own [possess] that land [Josh. 15:13–19; Judg. 1:9–15]. ²⁵ Since the Amalekites and the Canaanites are living in the valleys, leave tomorrow and follow the ·desert [Wilderness] road toward the ·Red [or Reed; Ex. 10:19] Sea.”

The Lord Punishes the People

²⁶ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ²⁷ “How long will these evil ·people [community; congregation; assembly] ·complain [grumble] about me? I have heard the ·complaining [grumbling] of these ·Israelites [^Lsons/^Tchildren of Israel]. ²⁸ So tell them, ‘This is ·what the Lord says [^Lthe utterance/decree of the Lord]. I heard what you said, and as surely as I live, I will do those very things to you: ²⁹ ·You will die [^LYour dead bodies will fall] in this ·desert [wilderness]. Every one of you who is twenty years old or older [^Cof military age] and who was counted with the people [1:1–54]—all of you who ·complained [grumbled] against me—will die. ³⁰ Not one of you will enter the land where I ·promised [^Llifted my hand; ^Cas when swearing an oath] you would live; only Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun will go in. ³¹ You said that your children would be ·taken away [war plunder], but I will bring them into the land to enjoy what you refused. ³² As for you, ·you will die [^Lyour bodies will fall] in this ·desert [wilderness]. ³³ Your children will be shepherds here for forty years. Because you were ·not loyal [unfaithful; ^Cthe term suggests sexual unfaithfulness as a metaphor of spiritual unfaithfulness], they will suffer until ·you lie dead [the last of your bodies lie] in the ·desert [wilderness]. ³⁴ For forty years you will suffer for your sins—a year for each of the forty days you ·explored [spied on] the land. You will know me as your enemy.’ ³⁵ I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will certainly do these things to all ·these evil people [this evil community/congregation/assembly] who have come together against me. So they will all die here in this ·desert [wilderness].”

³⁶ The men Moses had sent to ·explore [spy on] the land had returned and ·spread complaints [grumbled] among all the ·people [community; congregation; assembly]. They had given a bad report about the land. ³⁷ The men who gave a very bad report died; the Lord killed them with a terrible ·sickness [plague]. ³⁸ Only two of the men who ·explored [spied on] the land did not die—Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh.

³⁹ When Moses told these things to all the ·Israelites [^Lsons/^Tchildren of Israel], they ·were very sad [mourned greatly]. ⁴⁰ Early the next morning they started to go toward the top of the mountains, saying, “We have sinned. We will go where the Lord told us.”

⁴¹ But Moses said, “Why are you ·disobeying [transgressing] the Lord’s command? You will not ·win [succeed]! ⁴² Don’t go, because the Lord is not with you and you will be ·beaten [struck down] by your enemies. ⁴³ You will run into the Amalekites and Canaanites, who will ·kill [^Lfell] you with swords. You have turned away from the Lord, so the Lord will not be with you.”

⁴⁴ But they were ·proud [presumptuous; reckless]. They went toward the top of the mountains, ·but [or even though] Moses and the Ark of the ·Agreement [Treaty; Covenant; Ex. 25:10] with the Lord did not leave the camp. ⁴⁵ The Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in those mountains came down and ·attacked the Israelites [^Lstruck them down] and beat them back all the way to Hormah.