The Twelve Spies and Israel's Response

Numbers 13

¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

² “Send men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel. Of every tribe of their fathers, you shall send a man, every one a prince among them.”

³ Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran according to the commandment of Yahweh. All of them were men who were heads of the children of Israel.

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

⁵ Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori.

⁶ Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.

⁷ Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph.

⁸ Of the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun.

⁹ Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu.

¹⁰ Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi.

¹¹ Of the tribe of Joseph, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi.

¹² Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli.

¹³ Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael.

¹⁴ Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi.

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

¹⁶ These are the names of the men who Moses sent to spy out the land. Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.

¹⁷ Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, “Go up this way by the South, and go up into the hill country.

¹⁸ See the land, what it is; and the people who dwell therein, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are few or many;

¹⁹ and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it is good or bad; and what cities they are that they dwell in, whether in camps, or in strongholds;

²⁰ and what the land is, whether it is fertile or poor, whether there is wood therein, or not. Be courageous, and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the time of the first-ripe grapes.

²¹ So they went up, and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, to the entrance of Hamath.

²² They went up by the South, and came to Hebron; and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

²³ They came to the valley of Eshcol, and cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bore it on a staff between two. They also brought some of the pomegranates and figs.

²⁴ That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the children of Israel cut down from there.

²⁵ They returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days.

²⁶ They went and came to Moses, to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, to the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word to them and to all the congregation. They showed them the fruit of the land.

²⁷ They told him, and said, “We came to the land where you sent us. Surely it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

²⁸ However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. Moreover, we saw the children of Anak there.

²⁹ Amalek dwells in the land of the South. The Hittite, the Jebusite, and the Amorite dwell in the hill country. The Canaanite dwells by the sea, and along the side of the Jordan.”

³⁰ Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, “Let’s go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it!”

³¹ But the men who went up with him said, “We aren’t able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.”

³² They brought up an evil report of the land which they had spied out to the children of Israel, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that eats up its inhabitants; and all the people who we saw in it are men of great stature.

³³ There we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim. We were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.”

Numbers 14

¹ All the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.

² All the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “We wish that we had died in the land of Egypt, or that we had died in this wilderness!

³ Why does Yahweh bring us to this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be captured or killed! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return into Egypt?”

⁴ They said to one another, “Let’s choose a leader, and let’s return into Egypt.”

⁵ Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.

⁶ Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who spied out the land, tore their clothes.

⁷ They spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land.

⁸ If Yahweh delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us: a land which flows with milk and honey.

⁹ Only don’t rebel against Yahweh, neither fear the people of the land; for they are bread for us. Their defense is removed from over them, and Yahweh is with us. Don’t fear them.”

¹⁰ But all the congregation threatened to stone them with stones. Yahweh’s glory appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the children of Israel.

¹¹ Yahweh said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? How long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have worked among them?

¹² I will strike them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

¹³ Moses said to Yahweh, “Then the Egyptians will hear it; for you brought up this people in your might from among them.

¹⁴ They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you Yahweh are among this people; for you Yahweh are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them, and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night.

¹⁵ Now if you killed this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of you will speak, saying,

¹⁶ ‘Because Yahweh was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.’

¹⁷ Now please let the power of the Lord be great, according as you have spoken, saying,

¹⁸ ‘Yahweh is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and disobedience; and he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation.’

¹⁹ Please pardon the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your loving kindness, and just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”

²⁰ Yahweh said, “I have pardoned according to your word;

²¹ but in very deed—as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with Yahweh’s glory—

²² because all those men who have seen my glory and my signs, which I worked in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not listened to my voice;

²³ surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of those who despised me see it.

²⁴ But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him I will bring into the land into which he went. His offspring shall possess it.

²⁵ Since the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley, tomorrow turn and go into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”

²⁶ Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

²⁷ “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation that complain against me? I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel, which they complain against me.

²⁸ Tell them, ‘As I live, says Yahweh, surely as you have spoken in my ears, so I will do to you.

²⁹ Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all who were counted of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have complained against me,

³⁰ surely you shall not come into the land concerning which I swore that I would make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

³¹ But I will bring in your little ones that you said should be captured or killed, and they shall know the land which you have rejected.

³² But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness.

³³ Your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your prostitution, until your dead bodies are consumed in the wilderness.

³⁴ After the number of the days in which you spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, you will bear your iniquities, even forty years, and you will know my alienation.’

³⁵ I, Yahweh, have spoken. I will surely do this to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.”

³⁶ The men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation to murmur against him by bringing up an evil report against the land,

³⁷ even those men who brought up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before Yahweh.

³⁸ But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive of those men who went to spy out the land.

³⁹ Moses told these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly.

⁴⁰ They rose up early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, “Behold, we are here, and will go up to the place which Yahweh has promised; for we have sinned.”

⁴¹ Moses said, “Why now do you disobey the commandment of Yahweh, since it shall not prosper?

⁴² Don’t go up, for Yahweh isn’t among you; that way you won’t be struck down before your enemies.

⁴³ For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and you will fall by the sword because you turned back from following Yahweh; therefore Yahweh will not be with you.”

⁴⁴ But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain. Nevertheless, the ark of Yahweh’s covenant and Moses didn’t depart out of the camp.

⁴⁵ Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites who lived in that mountain, and struck them and beat them down even to Hormah.