Numbers 13:23-33

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 ¹  between two men, as well as some of the pomegranates and the figs. 13:24 That place was called ²  the Eshcol Valley, ³  because of the cluster ⁴  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 ⁵  to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. ⁶  They reported ⁷  to the whole community and showed the fruit of the land. 13:27 They told Moses, ⁸  “We went to the land where you sent us. ⁹  It is indeed flowing with milk and honey, ¹⁰  and this is its fruit. 13:28 But ¹¹  the inhabitants ¹²  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 ¹³  of the Jordan.” ¹⁴ 

13:30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses, saying, “Let us go up ¹⁵  and occupy it, ¹⁶  for we are well able to conquer it.” ¹⁷  13:31 But the men ¹⁸  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 ¹⁹  report of the land they had investigated, saying, “The land that we passed through ²⁰  to investigate is a land that devours ²¹  its inhabitants. ²²  All the people we saw there ²³  are of great stature. 13:33 We even saw the Nephilim ²⁴  there (the descendants of Anak came from the Nephilim), and we seemed liked grasshoppers both to ourselves ²⁵  and to them.” ²⁶ 

[13:23]  ¹ 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]  ² tn The verb is rendered as a passive because there is no expressed subject.

[13:24]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “They brought back word”; the verb is the Hiphil preterite of שׁוּב (shuv).

[13:27]  ⁸ tn Heb “told him and said.” The referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:27]  ⁹ tn The relative clause modifies “the land.” It is constructed with the relative and the verb: “where you sent us.”

[13:27]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn The word (אֶפֶס, ’efes) forms a very strong adversative. The land was indeed rich and fruitful, but….”

[13:28]  ¹² tn Heb “the people who are living in the land.”

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

[13:29]  ¹⁴ sn For more discussion on these people groups, see D. J. Wiseman, ed., Peoples of Old Testament Times.

[13:30]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn The vav (ו) disjunctive on the noun at the beginning of the clause forms a strong adversative clause here.

[13:32]  ¹⁹ tn Or “an evil report,” i.e., one that was a defamation of the grace of God.

[13:32]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ 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]  ²² 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]  ²³ tn Heb “in its midst.”

[13:33]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ tn Heb “in our eyes.”

[13:33]  ²⁶ tn Heb “in their eyes.”