Spies Sent to Canaan

1And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2Send for thee men, and let them spy the land of the Chananites, which I give to the sons of Israel for a possession; one man for a tribe, thou shalt send them away according to their families, every one of them a prince. 3And Moses sent them out of the wilderness of Pharan by the word of the Lord; all these were the princes of the sons of Israel. 4And these are their names: of the tribe of Ruben, Samuel the son of Zachur. 5Of the tribe of Symeon, Saphat the son of Suri. 6Of the tribe of Judah, Chaleb the son of Jephonne. 7Of the tribe of Issachar, Ilaal the son of Joseph. 8Of the tribe of Ephraim, Ause the son of Naue. 9Of the tribe of Benjamin, Phalti the son of Raphu. 10Of the tribe of Zabulon, Gudiel the son of Sudi. 11Of the tribe of Joseph of the sons of Manasse, Gaddi the son of Susi. 12Of the tribe of Dan, Amiel the son of Gamali. 13Of the tribe of Aser, Sathur the son of Michael. 14Of the tribe of Nephthali, Nabi the son of Sabi. 15Of the tribe of Gad, Gudiel the son of Macchi. 16These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land; and Moses called Ause the son of Naue, Joshua.

Instructions to the Spies

17And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Chanaan, and said to them, Go up by this wilderness; and ye shall go up to the mountain, 18and ye shall see the land, what it is, and the people that dwells on it, whether it is strong or weak, or whether they are few or many. 19And what the land is on which they dwell, whether it is good or bad; and what the cities are wherein these dwell, whether they dwell in walled cities or unwalled. 20And what the land is, whether rich or poor; whether there are trees in it or no: and ye shall persevere and take of the fruits of the land: and the days were the days of spring, the forerunners of the grape.

The Spies Explore Canaan

21And they went up and surveyed the land from the wilderness of Sin to Rhoob, as men go in to Aemath. 22And they went up by the wilderness, and departed as far as Chebron; and there was Achiman, and Sessi, and Thelami, the progeny of Enach. Now Chebron was built seven years before Tanin of Egypt.

23And they came to the valley of the cluster and surveyed it; and they cut down thence a bough and one cluster of grapes upon it, and bore it on staves, and they took of the pomegranates and the figs. 24And they called that place, The valley of the cluster, because of the cluster which the children of Israel cut down from thence.

The Reports of the Spies

25And they returned from thence, having surveyed the land, after forty days. 26And they proceeded and came to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel, to the wilderness of Pharan Cades; and they brought word to them and to all the congregation, and they shewed the fruit of the land: 27and they reported to him, and said, We came into the land into which thou sentest us, a land flowing with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. 28Only the nation that dwells upon it is bold, and they have very great and strong walled towns, and we saw there the children of Enach. 29And Amalec dwells in the land toward the south: and the Chettite and the Evite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite dwells in the hill country: and the Chananite dwells by the sea, and by the river Jordan.

30And Chaleb stayed the people from speaking before Moses, and said to him, Nay, but we will go up by all means, and will inherit it, for we shall surely prevail against them. 31But the men that went up together with him said, We will not go up, for we shall not by any means be able to go up against the nation, for it is much stronger than we. 32And they brought a horror of that land which they surveyed upon the children of Israel, saying, The land which we passed by to survey it, is a land that eats up its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of extraordinary stature. 33And there we saw the giants; and we were before them as locusts, yea even so were we before them.