Spies Sent to Canaan

(Deuteronomy 1:19-25)

1And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, 2Send thou men, that they may search out the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel. Ye shall send a man of every tribe of his fathers, each a prince among them. 3And Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran: according to the commandment of Jehovah, all of them heads of the children of Israel. 4And these are their names: for the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur; 5for the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori; 6for the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh; 7for the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph; 8for the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun; 9for the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu; 10for the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi; 11for the tribe of Joseph, for the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi; 12for the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli; 13for the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael; 14for the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi; 15for the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi. 16These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to search out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Jehoshua.

Instructions to the Spies

17And Moses sent them to search out the land of Canaan, and said to them, Go up this way by the south and go up into the hill-country, 18and ye shall see the land, what it is; and the people that dwell in it, whether they are strong or weak, few or many; 19and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it is good or bad; and what cities they are that they dwell in, whether in camps, or in strongholds; 20and what the land is, whether it is fat or lean, whether there are trees in it, or not. And take courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first grapes.

The Spies Explore Canaan

21And they went up, and searched out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, where one comes towards Hamath. 22And they went up by the south, and came to Hebron; and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were there. Now Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.

23And they came as far as the valley of Eshcol, and cut down thence a branch with one bunch of grapes, and they bore it between two upon a pole; and [they brought] of the pomegranates, and of the figs. 24That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of the grapes which the children of Israel had cut down there.

The Reports of the Spies

25And they returned from searching out the land after forty days. 26And they came, and went to Moses and to Aaron, and to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, to the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word to them, and to the whole assembly; and shewed them the fruit of the land. 27And they told him, and said, We came to the land to which thou didst send us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. 28Only, the people are strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, very great; moreover we saw the children of Anak there. 29Amalek dwells in the land of the south; and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill-country; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the side of the Jordan.

30And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up boldly and possess it, for we are well able to do it. 31But the men that went up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we. 32And they brought to the children of Israel an evil report of the land which they had searched out, saying, The land, which we have passed through to search it out, is a land that eateth up its inhabitants; and all the people that we have seen in it are men of great stature; 33and there have we seen giants -- the sons of Anak are of the giants -- and we were in our sight as grasshoppers, and so we were also in their sight.