Numbers 13:1-16

Context

Spies Sent Out

13:1 ¹The Lord spoke² to Moses: 13:2 “Send out men to investigate³ the land of Canaan, which I am giving⁴ to the Israelites. You are to send one man from each ancestral tribe,⁵ each one a leader among them.” 13:3 So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the command⁶ of the Lord. All of them were leaders⁷ of the Israelites.

13:4 Now these were their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur; 13:5 from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori; 13:6 from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh; 13:7 from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph; 13:8 from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun; 13:9 from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu; 13:10 from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi; 13:11 from the tribe⁸ of Joseph, namely, the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi son of Susi; 13:12 from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli; 13:13 from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael; 13:14 from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vopshi; 13:15 from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki. 13:16 These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to investigate the land. And Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua.⁹

[13:1] ¹sn Chapter 13 provides the names of the spies sent into the land (vv. 1-16), their instructions (vv. 17-20), their activities (vv. 21-25), and their reports (vv. 26-33). It is a chapter that serves as a good lesson on faith, for some of the spies walked by faith, and some by sight.

[13:1] ²tn The verse starts with the vav (ו) consecutive on the verb: “and….”

[13:2] ³tn The imperfect tense with the conjunction is here subordinated to the preceding imperative to form the purpose clause. It can thus be translated “send…to investigate.”

[13:2] ⁴tn The participle here should be given a future interpretation, meaning “which I am about to give” or “which I am going to give.”

[13:2] ⁵tn Heb “one man one man of the tribe of his fathers.”

[13:3] ⁶tn Heb “mouth.”

[13:3] ⁷tn Heb “heads.”

[13:11] ⁸tc Some scholars emend “tribe” to “sons.” Cf. Num 1:10.

[13:16] ⁹sn The difference in the names is slight, a change from “he saves” to “the Lord saves.” The Greek text of the OT used Iesoun for Hebrew Yeshua.