Numbers 13:21-22

The Spies’ Activities

13:21 So they went up and investigated the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, ¹  at the entrance of Hamath. ²  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.)

Genesis 12:9

12:9 Abram continually journeyed by stages ⁷  down to the Negev. ⁸ 

Genesis 13:1

Abram’s Solution to the Strife

13:1 So Abram went up from Egypt into the Negev. ⁹  He took his wife and all his possessions with him, as well as Lot. ¹⁰ 

Joshua 15:3

15:3 extended ¹¹  south of the Scorpion Ascent, ¹²  crossed to Zin, went up from the south to Kadesh Barnea, crossed to Hezron, went up to Addar, and turned toward Karka.

Jude 1:15

1:15 to execute judgment on ¹³  all, and to convict every person ¹⁴  of all their thoroughly ungodly deeds ¹⁵  that they have committed, ¹⁶  and of all the harsh words that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” ¹⁷ 

[13:21]  ¹ 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]  ² tn The idiom uses the infinitive construct: “to enter Hamath,” meaning, “on the way that people go to Hamath.”

[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).

[12:9]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew verb נָסַע (nasa’) means “to journey”; more specifically it means to pull up the tent and move to another place. The construction here uses the preterite of this verb with its infinitive absolute to stress the activity of traveling. But it also adds the infinitive absolute of הָלַךְ (halakh) to stress that the traveling was continually going on. Thus “Abram journeyed, going and journeying” becomes “Abram continually journeyed by stages.”

[12:9]  ⁸ tn Or “the South [country].”

[13:1]  ⁹ tn Or “the South [country]” (also in v. 3).

[13:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “And Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all which was his, and Lot with him, to the Negev.”

[15:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “went out.”

[15:3]  ¹² tn Or “the Ascent of Scorpions” (עַקְרַבִּים [’aqrabbim] means “scorpions” in Hebrew).

[1:15]  ¹³ tn Grk “against” (κατά [kata] + genitive). English usage is satisfied with “on” at this point, but the parallel is lost in the translation to some degree, for the end of v. 15 says that this judgment is meted out on these sinners because they spoke against him (κατά + genitive).

[1:15]  ¹⁴ tn Or “soul.”

[1:15]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “of all their works of ungodliness.” The adverb “thoroughly” is part of the following verb “have committed.” See note on verb “committed” later in this verse.

[1:15]  ¹⁶ tn The verb in Greek does not simply mean “have committed,” but “have committed in an ungodly way.” The verb ἀσεβέω (asebew) is cognate to the noun ἀσέβεια (asebeia, “ungodliness”). There is no easy way to express this in English, since English does not have a single word that means the same thing. Nevertheless, the tenor of v. 15 is plainly seen, regardless of the translation.

[1:15]  ¹⁷ sn An apparent quotation from 1 En. 1:9. There is some doubt as to whether Jude is actually quoting from the text of 1 Enoch; the text here in Jude differs in some respects from the extant text of this pseudepigraphic book. It is sometimes suggested that Jude may instead have been quoting from oral tradition which had roots older than the written text.