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Scouting Out Canaan

¹ The Lord spoke to Moses: ² “Send men to scout out the land of Canaan^(C1) I am giving to the Israelites. Send one man who is a leader among them from each of their ancestral tribes.” ³ Moses sent them from the Wilderness of Paran at the Lord’s command. All the men were leaders in Israel.^{(C1) 4} These were their names:

¹⁶ These were the names of the men Moses sent to scout out the land, and Moses renamed Hoshea son of Nun, Joshua.

¹⁷ When Moses sent them to scout out the land of Canaan, he told them, “Go up this way to the Negev, then go up into the hill country. ¹⁸ See what the land is like, and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. ¹⁹ Is the land they live in good^(C1) or bad? Are the cities they live in encampments or fortifications?^{(C2) 20} Is the land fertile or unproductive?^(C1) Are there trees in it or not? Be courageous. Bring back some fruit from the land.” It was the season for the first ripe grapes.^(C2)

²¹ So they went up and scouted out the land from the Wilderness of Zin^(F1) as far as Rehob near the entrance to Hamath.^{(F2) 22} They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak,^(C1) were living. Hebron was built seven years before Zoan^(C2) in Egypt. ²³ When they came to the Valley of Eshcol,^(C1) they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes, which was carried on a pole by two men. They also took some pomegranates and figs.^{(C2) 24} That place was called the Valley of Eshcol^(F1) because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut there. ²⁵ At the end of forty days^(C1) they returned from scouting out the land.

Report about Canaan

²⁶ The men went back to Moses, Aaron, and the entire Israelite community in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They brought back a report for them and the whole community, and they showed them the fruit of the land.^{(C1) 27} They reported to Moses: “We went into the land where you sent us. Indeed it is flowing with milk and honey,^(C1) and here is some of its fruit. ²⁸ However, the people living in the land are strong, and the cities are large and fortified.^(C1) We also saw the descendants of Anak^(C2) there. ²⁹ The Amalekites^(C1) are living in the land of the Negev; the Hethites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the Jordan.”

³⁰ Then Caleb^(C1) quieted the people in the presence of Moses and said, “Let’s go up now and take possession of the land because we can certainly conquer it!”

³¹ But the men who had gone up with him responded, “We can’t attack the people because they are stronger than we are!” ³² So they gave a negative report to the Israelites about the land they had scouted: “The land we passed through to explore is one that devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw in it are men of great size. ³³ We even saw the Nephilim^(C1) there—the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim!^(C2) To ourselves we seemed like grasshoppers, and we must have seemed the same to them.”