¹⁷ When Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, he said to them, “Go up there into ^(A)the ^[a]Negev; then go up into the hill country. ¹⁸ See what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many. ¹⁹ And how is the land in which they live, is it good or bad? And how are the cities in which they live, are the people in open camps or in fortifications? ²⁰ And ^(B)how is the land, is it ^[b]productive or unproductive? Are there trees in it or not? And ^(C)show yourselves courageous and get some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.

²¹ So they went up and spied out the land from ^(D)the wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, ^[c](E)at Lebo-hamath. ²² When they had gone up into ^(F)the Negev, ^[d]they came to Hebron where ^(G)Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the ^[e]descendants of ^(H)Anak were. (Hebron was built seven years before ^(I)Zoan in Egypt.)

²³ Then they came to the ^[f]Valley of ^[g](J)Eshcol, and from there they cut off a branch with a single cluster of grapes; and they carried it on a pole between two men, with some of the pomegranates and the figs. ²⁴ That place was called the Valley of ^[h]Eshcol, because of the cluster which the sons of Israel cut off from there.