Numbers 13:30-31

13:30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses, saying, “Let us go up ¹  and occupy it, ²  for we are well able to conquer it.” ³  13:31 But the men ⁴  who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against these people, because they are stronger than we are!”

[13:30]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn The vav (ו) disjunctive on the noun at the beginning of the clause forms a strong adversative clause here.