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12 And Miriam speaketh -- Aaron also -- against Moses concerning the circumstance of the Cushite woman whom he had taken: for a Cushite woman he had taken;

and they say, `Only by Moses hath Jehovah spoken? also by us hath he not spoken?' and Jehovah heareth.

And the man Moses [is] very humble, more than any of the men who [are] on the face of the ground.

And Jehovah saith suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, `Come out ye three unto the tent of meeting;' and they three come out.

And Jehovah cometh down in the pillar of the cloud, and standeth at the opening of the tent, and calleth Aaron and Miriam, and they come out both of them.

And He saith, `Hear, I pray you, My words: If your prophet is of Jehovah -- in an appearance unto him I make Myself known; in a dream I speak with him;

not so My servant Moses; in all My house he [is] stedfast;

mouth unto mouth I speak with him, and [by] an appearance, and not in riddles; and the form of Jehovah he beholdeth attentively; and wherefore have ye not been afraid to speak against My servant -- against Moses?'

And the anger of Jehovah burneth against them, and He goeth on,

10 and the cloud hath turned aside from off the tent, and lo, Miriam [is] leprous as snow; and Aaron turneth unto Miriam, and lo, leprous!

11 And Aaron saith unto Moses, `O, my lord, I pray thee, lay not upon us sin [in] which we have been foolish, and [in] which we have sinned;

12 let her not, I pray thee, be as [one] dead, when in his coming out from the womb of his mother -- the half of his flesh is consumed.'

13 And Moses crieth unto Jehovah, saying, `O God, I pray Thee, give, I pray Thee, healing to her.'

14 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `And her father had but spat in her face -- is she not ashamed seven days? she is shut out seven days at the outside of the camp, and afterwards she is gathered.'

15 And Miriam is shut out at the outside of the camp seven days, and the people hath not journeyed till Miriam is gathered;

16 and afterwards have the people journeyed from Hazeroth, and they encamp in the wilderness of Paran.

13 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

`Send for thee men, and they spy the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel; one man, one man for the tribe of his fathers ye do send, every one a prince among them.'

And Moses sendeth them from the wilderness of Paran by the command of Jehovah; all of them [are] men, heads of the sons of Israel they are,

and these their names: For the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur.

For the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori.

For the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh.

For the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph.

For the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea, son of Nun.

For the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu.

10 For the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi.

11 For the tribe of Joseph, (for the tribe of Manasseh,) Gaddi son of Susi.

12 For the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli.

13 For the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael.

14 For the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vopshi.

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

16 These [are] the names of the men whom Moses hath sent to spy the land; and Moses calleth Hoshea son of Nun, Jehoshua.

17 And Moses sendeth them to spy the land of Canaan, and saith unto them, `Go ye up this [way] into the south, and ye have gone up the mountain,

18 and have seen the land what it [is], and the people which is dwelling on it, whether it [is] strong or feeble; whether it [is] few or many;

19 and what the land [is] in which it is dwelling, whether it [is] good or bad; and what [are] the cities in which it is dwelling, whether in camps or in fortresses;

20 And what the land [is], whether it [is] fat or lean; whether there is wood in it or not; and ye have strengthened yourselves, and have taken of the fruit of the land;' and the days [are] days of the first-fruits of grapes.

21 And they go up and spy the land, from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob at the going in to Hamath;

22 and they go up by the south, and come in unto Hebron, and there [are] Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, children of Anak (and Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt),

23 and they come in unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down thence a branch and one cluster of grapes, and they bear it on a staff by two, also [some] of the pomegranates, and of the figs.

24 That place hath [one] called Brook of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the sons of Israel cut from thence.

25 And they turn back from spying the land at the end of forty days.

26 And they go and come in unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto all the company of the sons of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and they bring them and all the company back word, and shew them the fruit of the land.

27 And they recount to him, and say, `We came in unto the land whither thou hast sent us, and also it [is] flowing with milk and honey -- and this [is] its fruit;

28 only, surely the people which is dwelling in the land [is] strong; and the cities are fenced, very great; and also children of Anak we have seen there.

29 Amalek is dwelling in the land of the south, and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite is dwelling in the hill country, and the Canaanite is dwelling by the sea, and by the side of the Jordan.'

30 And Caleb stilleth the people concerning Moses, and saith, `Let us certainly go up -- and we have possessed it; for we are thoroughly able for it.'

31 And the men who have gone up with him said, `We are not able to go up against the people, for it [is] stronger than we;'

32 and they bring out an evil account of the land which they have spied unto the sons of Israel, saying, `The land into which we passed over to spy it, is a land eating up its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in its midst [are] men of stature;

33 and there we saw the Nephilim, sons of Anak, of the Nephilim; and we are in our own eyes as grasshoppers; and so we were in their eyes.'

Miriam and Aaron Oppose Moses

12 Miriam(A) and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife,(B) for he had married a Cushite. “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?”(C) And the Lord heard this.(D)

(Now Moses was a very humble man,(E) more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)

At once the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, “Come out to the tent of meeting, all three of you.” So the three of them went out. Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud;(F) he stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them stepped forward, he said, “Listen to my words:

“When there is a prophet among you,
    I, the Lord, reveal(G) myself to them in visions,(H)
    I speak to them in dreams.(I)
But this is not true of my servant Moses;(J)
    he is faithful in all my house.(K)
With him I speak face to face,
    clearly and not in riddles;(L)
    he sees the form of the Lord.(M)
Why then were you not afraid
    to speak against my servant Moses?”(N)

The anger of the Lord burned against them,(O) and he left them.(P)

10 When the cloud lifted from above the tent,(Q) Miriam’s skin was leprous[a]—it became as white as snow.(R) Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had a defiling skin disease,(S) 11 and he said to Moses, “Please, my lord, I ask you not to hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed.(T) 12 Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother’s womb with its flesh half eaten away.”

13 So Moses cried out to the Lord, “Please, God, heal her!(U)

14 The Lord replied to Moses, “If her father had spit in her face,(V) would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp(W) for seven days; after that she can be brought back.” 15 So Miriam was confined outside the camp(X) for seven days,(Y) and the people did not move on till she was brought back.

16 After that, the people left Hazeroth(Z) and encamped in the Desert of Paran.(AA)

Exploring Canaan

13 The Lord said to Moses, “Send some men to explore(AB) the land of Canaan,(AC) which I am giving to the Israelites.(AD) From each ancestral tribe(AE) send one of its leaders.”

So at the Lord’s command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites.(AF) These are their names:

from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zakkur;

from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori;

from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh;(AG)

from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph;

from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun;(AH)

from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu;

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

11 from the tribe of Manasseh (a tribe of Joseph), Gaddi son of Susi;

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

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

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

15 from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki.

16 These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore(AI) the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun(AJ) the name Joshua.)(AK)

17 When Moses sent them to explore Canaan,(AL) he said, “Go up through the Negev(AM) and on into the hill country.(AN) 18 See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. 19 What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? 20 How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.(AO)” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)(AP)

21 So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin(AQ) as far as Rehob,(AR) toward Lebo Hamath.(AS) 22 They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron,(AT) where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai,(AU) the descendants of Anak,(AV) lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)(AW) 23 When they reached the Valley of Eshkol,[b](AX) they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates(AY) and figs.(AZ) 24 That place was called the Valley of Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there. 25 At the end of forty days(BA) they returned from exploring the land.(BB)

Report on the Exploration

26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh(BC) in the Desert of Paran.(BD) There they reported to them(BE) and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land.(BF) 27 They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey!(BG) Here is its fruit.(BH) 28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large.(BI) We even saw descendants of Anak(BJ) there.(BK) 29 The Amalekites(BL) live in the Negev; the Hittites,(BM) Jebusites(BN) and Amorites(BO) live in the hill country;(BP) and the Canaanites(BQ) live near the sea and along the Jordan.(BR)

30 Then Caleb(BS) silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”(BT) 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report(BU) about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours(BV) those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size.(BW) 33 We saw the Nephilim(BX) there (the descendants of Anak(BY) come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers(BZ) in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

Footnotes

  1. Numbers 12:10 The Hebrew for leprous was used for various diseases affecting the skin.
  2. Numbers 13:23 Eshkol means cluster; also in verse 24.