Numbers 13:22-33

13:22 When they went up through the Negev, they ¹  came ²  to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, ³  descendants of Anak, were living. (Now Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan ⁴  in Egypt.) 13:23 When they came to the valley of Eshcol, they cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a staff ⁵  between two men, as well as some of the pomegranates and the figs. 13:24 That place was called ⁶  the Eshcol Valley, ⁷  because of the cluster ⁸  of grapes that the Israelites cut from there. 13:25 They returned from investigating the land after forty days.

The Spies’ Reports

13:26 They came back ⁹  to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. ¹⁰  They reported ¹¹  to the whole community and showed the fruit of the land. 13:27 They told Moses, ¹²  “We went to the land where you sent us. ¹³  It is indeed flowing with milk and honey, ¹⁴  and this is its fruit. 13:28 But ¹⁵  the inhabitants ¹⁶  are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. Moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. 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 ¹⁷  of the Jordan.” ¹⁸ 

13:30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses, saying, “Let us go up ¹⁹  and occupy it, ²⁰  for we are well able to conquer it.” ²¹  13:31 But the men ²²  who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against these people, because they are stronger than we are!” 13:32 Then they presented the Israelites with a discouraging ²³  report of the land they had investigated, saying, “The land that we passed through ²⁴  to investigate is a land that devours ²⁵  its inhabitants. ²⁶  All the people we saw there ²⁷  are of great stature. 13:33 We even saw the Nephilim ²⁸  there (the descendants of Anak came from the Nephilim), and we seemed liked grasshoppers both to ourselves ²⁹  and to them.” ³⁰ 

[13:22]  ¹ tc The MT has the singular, but the ancient versions and Smr have the plural.

[13:22]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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).

[13:23]  ⁵ tn The word is related etymologically to the verb for “slip, slide, bend, totter.” This would fit the use very well. A pole that would not bend would be hard to use to carry things, but a pole or stave that was flexible would serve well.

[13:24]  ⁶ tn The verb is rendered as a passive because there is no expressed subject.

[13:24]  ⁷ tn Or “Wadi Eshcol.” The translation “brook” is too generous; the Hebrew term refers to a river bed, a ravine or valley through which torrents of rain would rush in the rainy season; at other times it might be completely dry.

[13:24]  ⁸ tn The word “Eshcol” is drawn from the Hebrew expression concerning the “cluster of grapes.” The word is probably retained in the name Burj Haskeh, two miles north of Damascus.

[13:26]  ⁹ tn The construction literally has “and they went and they entered,” which may be smoothed out as a verbal hendiadys, the one verb modifying the other.

[13:26]  ¹⁰ sn Kadesh is Ain Qadeis, about 50 miles (83 km) south of Beer Sheba. It is called Kadesh-barnea in Num 32:8.

[13:26]  ¹¹ tn Heb “They brought back word”; the verb is the Hiphil preterite of שׁוּב (shuv).

[13:27]  ¹² tn Heb “told him and said.” The referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:27]  ¹³ tn The relative clause modifies “the land.” It is constructed with the relative and the verb: “where you sent us.”

[13:27]  ¹⁴ sn This is the common expression for the material abundance of the land (see further, F. C. Fensham, “An Ancient Tradition of the Fertility of Palestine,” PEQ 98 [1966]: 166-67).

[13:28]  ¹⁵ tn The word (אֶפֶס, ’efes) forms a very strong adversative. The land was indeed rich and fruitful, but….”

[13:28]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the people who are living in the land.”

[13:29]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “by the side [hand] of.”

[13:29]  ¹⁸ sn For more discussion on these people groups, see D. J. Wiseman, ed., Peoples of Old Testament Times.

[13:30]  ¹⁹ tn The construction is emphatic, using the cohortative with the infinitive absolute to strengthen it: עָלֹה נַעֲלֶה (’aloh na’aleh, “let us go up”) with the sense of certainty and immediacy.

[13:30]  ²⁰ tn The perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive brings the cohortative idea forward: “and let us possess it”; it may also be subordinated to form a purpose or result idea.

[13:30]  ²¹ tn Here again the confidence of Caleb is expressed with the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense: יָכוֹל נוּכַל (yakhol nukhal), “we are fully able” to do this. The verb יָכַל (yakhal) followed by the preposition lamed means “to prevail over, to conquer.”

[13:31]  ²² tn The vav (ו) disjunctive on the noun at the beginning of the clause forms a strong adversative clause here.

[13:32]  ²³ tn Or “an evil report,” i.e., one that was a defamation of the grace of God.

[13:32]  ²⁴ tn Heb “which we passed over in it”; the pronoun on the preposition serves as a resumptive pronoun for the relative, and need not be translated literally.

[13:32]  ²⁵ tn The verb is the feminine singular participle from אָכַל (’akhal); it modifies the land as a “devouring land,” a bold figure for the difficulty of living in the place.

[13:32]  ²⁶ sn The expression has been interpreted in a number of ways by commentators, such as that the land was infertile, that the Canaanites were cannibals, that it was a land filled with warlike dissensions, or that it denotes a land geared for battle. It may be that they intended the land to seem infertile and insecure.

[13:32]  ²⁷ tn Heb “in its midst.”

[13:33]  ²⁸ tc The Greek version uses gigantes (“giants”) to translate “the Nephilim,” but it does not retain the clause “the sons of Anak are from the Nephilim.”

[13:33]  ²⁹ tn Heb “in our eyes.”

[13:33]  ³⁰ tn Heb “in their eyes.”