Numbers 13:17

The Spies’ Instructions

13:17 When Moses sent ¹  them to investigate the land of Canaan, he told them, “Go up through the Negev, ²  and then go up into the hill country

Numbers 13:22

13:22 When they went up through the Negev, they ³  came ⁴  to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, ⁵  descendants of Anak, were living. (Now Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan ⁶  in Egypt.)

Numbers 13:29

13:29 The Amalekites live in the land of the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the banks ⁷  of the Jordan.” ⁸ 

Numbers 21:1

Victory at Hormah

21:1 ⁹ When the Canaanite king of Arad ¹⁰  who lived in the Negev ¹¹  heard that Israel was approaching along the road to Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoner.

[13:17]  ¹ tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the next verb of the same formation to express a temporal clause.

[13:17]  ² tn The instructions had them first go up into the southern desert of the land, and after passing through that, into the hill country of the Canaanites. The text could be rendered “into the Negev” as well as “through the Negev.”

[13:22]  ³ tc The MT has the singular, but the ancient versions and Smr have the plural.

[13:22]  ⁴ tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the following clause. The first verse gave the account of their journey over the whole land; this section focuses on what happened in the area of Hebron, which would be the basis for the false report.

[13:22]  ⁵ sn These names are thought to be three clans that were in the Hebron area (see Josh 15:14; Judg 1:20). To call them descendants of Anak is usually taken to mean that they were large or tall people (2 Sam 21:18-22). They were ultimately driven out by Caleb.

[13:22]  ⁶ sn The text now provides a brief historical aside for the readers. Zoan was probably the city of Tanis, although that is disputed today by some scholars. It was known in Egypt in the New Kingdom as “the fields of Tanis,” which corresponded to the “fields of Zoar” in the Hebrew Bible (Ps 78:12, 43).

[13:29]  ⁵ tn Heb “by the side [hand] of.”

[13:29]  ⁶ sn For more discussion on these people groups, see D. J. Wiseman, ed., Peoples of Old Testament Times.

[21:1]  ⁷ sn This chapter has several events in it: the victory over Arad (vv. 1-3), the plague of serpents (vv. 4-9), the approach to Moab (vv. 10-20), and the victory over Sihon and Og (vv. 21-35). For information, see D. M. Gunn, “The ‘Battle Report’: Oral or Scribal Convention.” JBL 93 (1974): 513-18; and of the extensive literature on the archaeological site, see EAEHL 1:74-89.

[21:1]  ⁸ sn The name Arad probably refers to a place a number of miles away from Tel Arad in southern Israel. The name could also refer to the whole region (like Edom).

[21:1]  ⁹ tn Or “the south”; “Negev” has become a technical name for the southern desert region and is still in use in modern times.