1 And YHWH speaks to Moses, saying, 2 “Send men for yourself, and they spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel; one man—you send one man for the tribe of his fathers, everyone a prince among them.” 3 And Moses sends them from the wilderness of Paran by the command of YHWH; all of them [are] men, [and] they are heads of the sons of Israel, 4 and these [are] their names: for the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur; 5 for the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori; 6 for the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh; 7 for the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph; 8 for the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea son of Nun; 9 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 has sent to spy out the land; and Moses calls Hoshea son of Nun, Joshua. 17 And Moses sends them to spy out the land of Canaan and says to them, “Go up this [way] into the south, and you 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, [and] 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 you have strengthened yourselves, and have taken of the fruit of the land”; now the days [are] days of the first-fruits of grapes. 21 And they go up and spy out the land, from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob at the going in to Hamath; 22 and they go up by the south, and come to 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 to the Brook of Eshcol, and cut down a branch and one cluster of grapes there, and they carry it on a staff by two, also [some] of the pomegranates, and of the figs. 24 That place has been called the Brook of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the sons of Israel cut from there. 25 And they return from spying out the land at the end of forty days. 26 And they go and come to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, to the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and they bring them and all the congregation back word, and show them the fruit of the land. 27 And they recount to him, and say, “We came to the land to where you have sent us, and it is indeed 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 fortified [and] very great; and we have also seen children of Anak there. 29 Amalek is dwelling in the land of the south, and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite are dwelling in the hill country, and the Canaanite is dwelling by the sea, and by the side of the Jordan.” 30 And Caleb stills the people concerning Moses and says, “Let us certainly go up—and we have possessed it; for we are thoroughly able to [do] 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 out to the sons of Israel, saying, “The land into which we passed over to spy it out 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 giants, sons of Anak, of the giants; and we are as grasshoppers in our own eyes—and so we were in their eyes.”
Numbers · Literal Standard Version
Numbers 13 Literal Standard Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Ahiman
One of three descendants of Anak whom the spies saw living at Hebron.
Cited in the guide: Numbers 13:22; Joshua 15:14; Judges 1:10
Ammiel
One of the twelve leaders Moses sent to spy out Canaan, representing the tribe of Dan, who brought back a bad report about the land and died in the plague that struck the spies.
Cited in the guide: Numbers 13:12
Anak
The ancestor of the Anakim, the tall people of Canaan whom the spies feared; Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai at Hebron were his descendants.
Cited in the guide: Numbers 13:22; Numbers 13:28; Deuteronomy 9:2
Caleb
The son of Jephunneh from the tribe of Judah and one of the twelve spies, who urged Israel to take the land, followed the LORD wholeheartedly, was promised the land he had walked…
Cited in the guide: Numbers 13:6; Numbers 13:30; Numbers 14:24
Gaddi
One of the twelve leaders Moses sent to spy out Canaan, representing the tribe of Manasseh, who brought back a bad report about the land and died in the plague that struck the…
Cited in the guide: Numbers 13:11
Gaddiel
One of the twelve leaders Moses sent to spy out Canaan, representing the tribe of Zebulun, who brought back a bad report about the land and died in the plague that struck the…
Cited in the guide: Numbers 13:10
Gemalli
The father of Ammiel, who was sent to spy out Canaan for the tribe of Dan.
Cited in the guide: Numbers 13:12
Geuel
One of the twelve leaders Moses sent to spy out Canaan, representing the tribe of Gad, who brought back a bad report about the land and died in the plague that struck the spies.
Cited in the guide: Numbers 13:15
Hori
The father of Shaphat, who was sent to spy out Canaan for the tribe of Simeon.
Cited in the guide: Numbers 13:5
Igal
One of the twelve leaders Moses sent to spy out Canaan, representing the tribe of Issachar, who brought back a bad report about the land and died in the plague that struck the…
Cited in the guide: Numbers 13:7
Jephunneh
The father of Caleb, the faithful spy of the tribe of Judah, called a Kenizzite in Numbers 32:12.
Cited in the guide: Numbers 13:6; Numbers 14:6; Numbers 32:12
Joseph
The father of Igal, who was sent to spy out Canaan for the tribe of Issachar.
Cited in the guide: Numbers 13:7
Joshua
The Ephraimite son of Nun, originally named Hoshea, who led Israel against Amalek at Rephidim, served as Moses' attendant, was one of the two faithful spies, and was commissioned…
Cited in the guide: Exodus 17:9; Exodus 33:11; Numbers 13:16
Machi
The father of Geuel, who was sent to spy out Canaan for the tribe of Gad.
Cited in the guide: Numbers 13:15
Michael
The father of Sethur, who was sent to spy out Canaan for the tribe of Asher.
Cited in the guide: Numbers 13:13
Moses
Drawn from the Nile, he led Israel out of Egypt and received God's Law.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 2–Deuteronomy 34
Nahbi
One of the twelve leaders Moses sent to spy out Canaan, representing the tribe of Naphtali, who brought back a bad report about the land and died in the plague that struck the…
Cited in the guide: Numbers 13:14
Nun
The father of Joshua, whom Moses named from among the tribe of Ephraim; 1 Chronicles 7:26-27 places him in Ephraim's line after Elishama.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 33:11; Numbers 13:8; Numbers 13:16
Palti
One of the twelve leaders Moses sent to spy out Canaan, representing the tribe of Benjamin, who brought back a bad report about the land and died in the plague that struck the…
Cited in the guide: Numbers 13:9
Raphu
The father of Palti, who was sent to spy out Canaan for the tribe of Benjamin.
Cited in the guide: Numbers 13:9
Sethur
One of the twelve leaders Moses sent to spy out Canaan, representing the tribe of Asher, who brought back a bad report about the land and died in the plague that struck the spies.
Cited in the guide: Numbers 13:13
Shammua
One of the twelve leaders Moses sent to spy out Canaan, representing the tribe of Reuben, who brought back a bad report about the land and died in the plague that struck the spies.
Cited in the guide: Numbers 13:4
Shaphat
One of the twelve leaders Moses sent to spy out Canaan, representing the tribe of Simeon, who brought back a bad report about the land and died in the plague that struck the spies.
Cited in the guide: Numbers 13:5
Sheshai
One of three descendants of Anak whom the spies saw living at Hebron.
Cited in the guide: Numbers 13:22; Joshua 15:14; Judges 1:10
Sodi
The father of Gaddiel, who was sent to spy out Canaan for the tribe of Zebulun.
Cited in the guide: Numbers 13:10
Susi
The father of Gaddi, who was sent to spy out Canaan for the tribe of Manasseh.
Cited in the guide: Numbers 13:11
Talmai
One of three descendants of Anak whom the spies saw living at Hebron.
Cited in the guide: Numbers 13:22; Joshua 15:14; Judges 1:10
Zaccur
The father of Shammua, who was sent to spy out Canaan for the tribe of Reuben.
Cited in the guide: Numbers 13:4
Cross references (20)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 2 Deuteronomy 1:22–25; Numbers 32:8; Numbers 34:18; Exodus 18:25; Deuteronomy 1:15
- 3 Numbers 12:16; Numbers 32:8; Deuteronomy 1:19; Deuteronomy 9:23; Deuteronomy 1:23
- 6 Numbers 34:19; Numbers 14:6; Joshua 14:6–15; Numbers 14:30; Numbers 13:30
- 8 Numbers 11:28; Exodus 24:13; Deuteronomy 31:23; Deuteronomy 34:9; Numbers 27:18–22
- 16 Numbers 13:8; Exodus 17:9; Numbers 14:6; Matthew 1:21–23; Romans 9:25
- 17 Judges 1:9; Genesis 12:9; Judges 1:15; Joshua 15:3; Genesis 13:1
- 18 Ezekiel 34:14; Exodus 3:8
- 20 Deuteronomy 31:23; Nehemiah 9:35; Deuteronomy 31:6–8; Ezekiel 34:14; Nehemiah 9:25
- 21 Numbers 33:36; Numbers 20:1; Numbers 27:14; Joshua 15:1; Joshua 13:5
- 22 Psalm 78:43; Psalm 78:12; Joshua 15:13–14; Isaiah 19:11; Isaiah 30:4
- 23 Numbers 13:24; Numbers 32:9; Deuteronomy 1:24–25; Judges 16:4
- 25 Exodus 34:28; Numbers 14:33–34; Exodus 24:18
- 26 Numbers 32:8; Numbers 20:1; Numbers 33:36; Numbers 20:16; Deuteronomy 1:19
- 27 Exodus 3:8; Exodus 3:17; Exodus 13:5; Exodus 33:3; Deuteronomy 31:20
- 28 Deuteronomy 9:1–2; Deuteronomy 1:28; Numbers 13:33; Joshua 11:22; Joshua 15:14
- 29 Numbers 14:43; Judges 6:3; Numbers 24:20; Psalm 83:7; Numbers 14:45
- 30 Numbers 14:24; Romans 8:31; Philippians 4:13; Psalm 60:12; Numbers 14:6–9
- 31 Deuteronomy 1:28; Joshua 14:8; Hebrews 3:19; Deuteronomy 9:1; Numbers 32:9
- 32 Amos 2:9; Numbers 14:36–37; Ezekiel 36:13–14; Matthew 23:13; 2 Samuel 21:20
- 33 Deuteronomy 1:28; Genesis 6:4; Isaiah 40:22; 1 Samuel 17:42; Deuteronomy 9:2
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences