Numbers 13:21-23
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
21 So they went up and reconnoitered the land from the wilderness of Zin[a] as far as where Rehob adjoins Lebo-hamath. 22 (A)Going up by way of the Negeb, they reached Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, descendants of the Anakim,[b] were. (Now Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 23 They also reached the Wadi Eshcol,[c] where they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes on it, which two of them carried on a pole, as well as some pomegranates and figs.
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- 13:21 The wilderness of Zin: north of Paran and southwest of the Dead Sea. It is quite distinct from “the wilderness of Sin” near the border of Egypt (Ex 16:1; 17:1; Nm 33:11). Lebo-hamath: a town near Riblah (Jer 39:5–6) at the southern border of Hamath, an independent kingdom in southern Syria. David’s conquests extended as far as Hamath (2 Sm 8:9–11), and Lebo-hamath thus formed the northern border of the ideal extent of Israel’s possessions (Nm 34:7–9; Ez 47:15; 48:1). This may suggest that this verse was inserted precisely to extend the scope of the reconnaissance; cf. Dt 1:24.
- 13:22, 28 Anakim: an aboriginal race in southern Palestine, largely absorbed by the Canaanites. Either because of their tall stature or because of the massive stone structures left by them, the Israelites regarded them as giants.
- 13:23 Eshcol: means “cluster.”
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