13 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

² Send 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.

³ And Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran: according to the commandment of Jehovah, all of them heads of the children of Israel.

⁴ And these are their names: for the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur;

⁵ for the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori;

⁶ for the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh;

⁷ for the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph;

⁸ for the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun;

⁹ for the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu;

¹⁰ for the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi;

¹¹ for the tribe of Joseph, for the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi;

¹² for the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli;

¹³ for the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael;

¹⁴ for the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi;

¹⁵ for the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.

¹⁶ These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to search out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Jehoshua.

¹⁷ And 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,

¹⁸ and ye shall see the land, what it is; and the people that dwell in it, whether they are strong or weak, few or many;

¹⁹ and 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;

²⁰ and 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.

²¹ And they went up, and searched out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, where one comes towards Hamath.

²² And 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.

²³ And 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.

²⁴ That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of the grapes which the children of Israel had cut down there.

²⁵ And they returned from searching out the land after forty days.

²⁶ And 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.

²⁷ And 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.

²⁸ Only, the people are strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, very great; moreover we saw the children of Anak there.

²⁹ Amalek 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.

³⁰ And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up boldly and possess it, for we are well able to do it.

³¹ But the men that went up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.

³² And 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;

³³ and 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.

14 And the whole assembly lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.

² And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron; and the whole assembly said to them, Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! or in this wilderness would that we had died!

³ And why is Jehovah bringing us to this land that we may fall by the sword, that our wives and our little ones may become a prey? Is it not better for us to return to Egypt?

⁴ And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return to Egypt.

⁵ Then Moses and Aaron fell upon their faces before the whole congregation of the assembly of the children of Israel.

⁶ And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of them that searched out the land, rent their garments.

⁷ And they spoke to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it out, is a very, very good land.

⁸ If Jehovah delight in us, he will bring us into this land, and give it us, a land that flows with milk and honey;

⁹ only rebel not against Jehovah; and fear not the people of the land; for they shall be our food. Their defence is departed from them, and Jehovah is with us: fear them not.

¹⁰ And the whole assembly said that they should be stoned with stones. And the glory of Jehovah appeared in the tent of meeting to all the children of Israel.

¹¹ And Jehovah said to Moses, How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe me, for all the signs which I have done among them?

¹² I will smite them with the pestilence, and destroy them, and will make of thee a nation greater and mightier than they.

¹³ And Moses said to Jehovah, Then the Egyptians will hear it; for in thy might thou broughtest up this people from the midst of them;

¹⁴ and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land, [who] have heard that thou, Jehovah, art in the midst of this people, that thou, Jehovah, lettest thyself be seen eye to eye, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night;

¹⁵ if thou now slayest this people as one man, then the nations that have heard thy fame will speak, saying,

¹⁶ Because Jehovah was not able to bring this people into the land that he had sworn unto them, he has therefore slain them in the wilderness.

¹⁷ And now, I beseech thee, let the power of the Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying,

¹⁸ Jehovah is slow to anger, and abundant in goodness, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but by no means clearing [the guilty], visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and fourth [generation].

¹⁹ Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of thy loving-kindness, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.

²⁰ And Jehovah said, I have pardoned according to thy word.

²¹ But as surely as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Jehovah!

²² for all those men who have seen my glory, and my signs, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice,

²³ shall in no wise see the land which I did swear unto their fathers: none of them that despised me shall see it.

²⁴ But my servant Caleb, because he hath another spirit in him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he came; and his seed shall possess it.

²⁵ (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valley.) To-morrow turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness, on the way to the Red sea.

²⁶ And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

²⁷ How long [shall I bear] with this evil assembly, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.

²⁸ Say unto them, As surely as I live, saith Jehovah, if I do not do unto you as ye have spoken in mine ears!

²⁹ In this wilderness shall your carcases fall; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number from twenty years old and upwards, who have murmured against me,

³⁰ shall in no wise come into the land, concerning which I have lifted up my hand to make you dwell in it; save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

³¹ But your little ones, of whom ye said they should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land that ye have despised.

³² And as to you, your carcases shall fall in this wilderness.

³³ And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.

³⁴ After the number of the days in which ye have searched out the land, forty days, each day for a year shall ye bear your iniquities forty years, and ye shall know mine estrangement [from you].

³⁵ I Jehovah have spoken; I will surely do it unto all this evil assembly which have gathered together against me! in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.

³⁶ And the men whom Moses had sent to search out the land, who returned, and made the whole assembly to murmur against him, by bringing up an evil report upon the land,

³⁷ even those men who had brought up an evil report upon the land, died by a plague before Jehovah.

³⁸ But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, lived still of the men that had gone to search out the land.

³⁹ And Moses told all these sayings to all the children of Israel; then the people mourned greatly.

⁴⁰ And they rose up early in the morning, and went up to the hill-top, saying, Here are we, and we will go up to the place of which Jehovah has spoken; for we have sinned.

⁴¹ And Moses said, Why now do ye transgress the commandment of Jehovah? but it shall not prosper!

⁴² Go not up, for Jehovah is not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies;

⁴³ for the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword; for as ye have turned away from Jehovah, Jehovah will not be with you.

⁴⁴ Yet they presumed to go up to the hill-top; but the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and Moses, did not depart from the midst of the camp.

⁴⁵ And the Amalekites and the Canaanites who dwelt on that hill, came down and smote them, and cut them to pieces, as far as Hormah.