³ So Moses sent them ^(A)from the Wilderness of Paran according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel.

²⁶ Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran, at ^(A)Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.

Israel’s Refusal to Enter the Land^(A)

¹⁹ “So we departed from Horeb, ^(B)and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw on the way to the mountains of the Amorites, as the Lord our God had commanded us. Then ^(C)we came to Kadesh Barnea. ²⁰ And I said to you, ‘You have come to the mountains of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us. ²¹ Look, the Lord your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it, as the Lord God of your fathers has spoken to you; ^(D)do not fear or be discouraged.’

²² “And every one of you came near to me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, and let them search out the land for us, and bring back word to us of the way by which we should go up, and of the cities into which we shall come.’

²³ “The plan pleased me well; so ^(E)I took twelve of your men, one man from each tribe. ^24 (F)And they departed and went up into the mountains, and came to the Valley of Eshcol, and spied it out. ²⁵ They also took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us; and they brought back word to us, saying, ‘It is a ^(G)good land which the Lord our God is giving us.’