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13
1 The Lord told Moses, 2 “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, the country I'm giving to the Israelites. Choose one of the leaders from each of the tribes to go and do this.”
3 Moses did as the Lord had ordered and sent the men out from the Desert of Paran. They were all leaders of the Israelites. 4 Their names were:
Shammua son of Zaccur, from the tribe of Reuben.
5 Shaphat, son of Hori, from the tribe of Simeon.
6 Caleb, son of Jephunneh, from the tribe of Judah.
7 Igal, son of Joseph, from the tribe of Issachar.
8 Hoshea,* Also called Joshua, see verse 16. son of Nun, from the tribe of Ephraim.
9 Palti son of Raphu, from the tribe of Benjamin.
10 Gaddiel, son of Sodi, from the tribe of Zebulun.
11 Gaddi, son of Susi, from the tribe of Manasseh (a tribe of Joseph).
12 Ammiel, son of Gemalli, from the tribe of Dan.
13 Sethur, son of Michael, from the tribe of Asher.
14 Nahbi, son of Vophsi, from the tribe of Naphtali.
15 Geuel, son of Machi, from the tribe of Gad.
16 These were the names of the men that Moses sent to explore the country. Moses called Hoshea Joshua.
17 Moses sent them out to explore the land of Canaan, telling them, “Go through the Negev and on into the hill country. 18 See what the place looks like, and find out about the people living there—are they strong or weak? Are there many of them or only a few? 19 Is the land where they're living good or bad? Are their towns like open camps, or do they have defensive walls? 20 Is the soil productive or not? Is it forested? Be brave, and bring back some of the country's fruit.” (It was the beginning of the grape harvest.)
21 So the men went and explored the land all the way from the Desert of Zin to Rehob, bear Lebo-hamath. 22 They went through the Negev and arrived in Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, lived. This town was built seven years before the Egyptian town of Zoan.
23 When they arrived at the Valley of Eshcol they chopped down a branch that had just one bunch of grapes. They had to carry it on a pole held between two men. They also collected some pomegranates and figs. 24 (The place was named the Valley of Eshcol† “Eshcol” means “bunch.” because of the bunch of grapes they took from there.)
25 Forty days later the men returned from exploring the country. 26 They went to see Moses and Aaron, and all the Israelites gathered there at their camp in Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. They gave a report before everyone and showed them the fruit they had brought back from the country.
27 This is the report they gave to Moses: “We went and explored the country you sent us to, and it is definitely very productive, as if it was flowing with milk and honey. Just look at some of its fruit! 28 But the people living there are strong, and their towns are big and have defensive walls. We also saw some descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev. The Hittites, Jebusites, and the Amorites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live on the sea coast and also beside the Jordan.”
30 Then Caleb asked for quiet as the people stood before Moses and told them, “Let's go and take over the land. We can conquer the country, no doubt about it!”
31 But the men who had gone with him disagreed. “We can't go and fight these people! They're much stronger than us!” 32 They spread a negative report among the Israelites about the country they had explored. They told people, “The country we explored destroys the people that live there. Plus everyone we saw was really big! 33 We even saw giants there—people descended from Anak the giant! Compared to them we looked like grasshoppers, and we must have looked like that to them too!”

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*13:8 Also called Joshua, see verse 16.

†13:24 “Eshcol” means “bunch.”

© 2018 Dr. Jonathan Gallagher