Numbers 13:17-22

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 13:18 and see ³  what the land is like, ⁴  and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, few or many, 13:19 and whether the land they live in is good or bad, and whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or fortified cities, 13:20 and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether or not there are forests in it. And be brave, ⁵  and bring back some of the fruit of the land.” Now it was the time of year ⁶  for the first ripe grapes. ⁷ 

The Spies’ Activities

13:21 So they went up and investigated the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, ⁸  at the entrance of Hamath. ⁹  13:22 When they went up through the Negev, they ¹⁰  came ¹¹  to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, ¹²  descendants of Anak, were living. (Now Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan ¹³  in Egypt.)

[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.”

[13:18]  ³ tn The form is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; the word therefore carries the volitional mood of the preceding imperatives. It may be either another imperative, or it may be subordinated as a purpose clause.

[13:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “see the land, what it is.”

[13:20]  ⁵ tn The verb is the Hitpael perfect with vav (ו) consecutive, from the root חָזַק (khazaq, “to be strong”). Here it could mean “strengthen yourselves” or “be courageous” or “determined.” See further uses in 2 Sam 10:12; 1 Kgs 20:22; 1 Chr 19:13.

[13:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “Now the days were the days of.”

[13:20]  ⁷ sn The reference to the first ripe grapes would put the time somewhere at the end of July.

[13:21]  ⁸ sn Zin is on the southern edge of the land, but Rehob is far north, near Mount Hermon. The spies covered all the land.

[13:21]  ⁹ tn The idiom uses the infinitive construct: “to enter Hamath,” meaning, “on the way that people go to Hamath.”

[13:22]  ¹⁰ tc The MT has the singular, but the ancient versions and Smr have the plural.

[13:22]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ 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).