Numbers 13:28-29

13:28 But ¹  the inhabitants ²  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 ³  of the Jordan.” ⁴ 

Numbers 13:32-33

13:32 Then they presented the Israelites with a discouraging ⁵  report of the land they had investigated, saying, “The land that we passed through ⁶  to investigate is a land that devours ⁷  its inhabitants. ⁸  All the people we saw there ⁹  are of great stature. 13:33 We even saw the Nephilim ¹⁰  there (the descendants of Anak came from the Nephilim), and we seemed liked grasshoppers both to ourselves ¹¹  and to them.” ¹² 

[13:28]  ¹ tn The word (אֶפֶס, ’efes) forms a very strong adversative. The land was indeed rich and fruitful, but….”

[13:28]  ² tn Heb “the people who are living in the land.”

[13:29]  ³ tn Heb “by the side [hand] of.”

[13:29]  ⁴ sn For more discussion on these people groups, see D. J. Wiseman, ed., Peoples of Old Testament Times.

[13:32]  ⁵ tn Or “an evil report,” i.e., one that was a defamation of the grace of God.

[13:32]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Heb “in its midst.”

[13:33]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in our eyes.”

[13:33]  ¹² tn Heb “in their eyes.”