The twelve spies are sent to view the land. The relation they make of it.

¹ And the people set out from Hazeroth, and they pitched their tents in the desert of Paran.

² And there, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

³ “Send men, who may examine the land of Canaan, which I will give to the sons of Israel, one from the rulers of each tribe.”

⁴ Moses did what the Lord had commanded, sending, from the desert of Paran, leading men, whose names are these:

⁵ from the tribe of Ruben, Shammua the son of Zaccur;

⁶ from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori;

⁷ from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh;

⁸ from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph;

⁹ from the tribe of Ephraim, Hosea the son of Nun;

¹⁰ from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu;

¹¹ from the tribe of Zebulon, Gaddiel the son of Sodi;

¹² from the tribe of Joseph, of the scepter of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi;

¹³ from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli;

¹⁴ from the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael;

¹⁵ from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi;

¹⁶ from the tribe of Gad, Guel the son of Machi.

¹⁷ These are the names of the men, whom Moses sent to examine the land. And he called Hosea, the son of Nun, Joshua.

¹⁸ And so, Moses sent them to examine the land of Canaan, and he said to them: “Ascend by the south side. And when you arrive at the mountains,

¹⁹ consider the land, as to what kind it may be, and the people, who are its inhabitants, whether they may be strong or weak, whether they may be few in number or many,

²⁰ and the land itself, whether it is good or bad, what kind of cities, walled or without walls,

²¹ the soil, rich or barren, forested or without trees. Be strong, and bring us some of the fruits of the land.” Now it was the time when the first ripe grapes were ready to be eaten.

²² And when they had ascended, they explored the land from the desert of Sin, all the way to Rehob, as one enters into Hamath.

²³ And they ascended by the south side. And they arrived at Hebron, where there were Ahiman and Shishai and Talmai, the sons of Anak. For Hebron was founded seven years before Tanis, the city of Egypt.

²⁴ And continuing on as far as the Torrent of the Cluster of Grapes, they cut off a vine with its grapes, which two men carried on a board. Likewise, they took from the pomegranates and the figs of that place,

²⁵ which was called Nehel Eshcol, that is, the Torrent of the Cluster of Grapes, because the sons of Israel had carried a cluster of grapes from there.

²⁶ And those exploring the land returned after forty days, having circulated through the entire region.

²⁷ And they went to Moses and Aaron, and to the entire assembly of the sons of Israel in the desert of Paran, which is in Kadesh. And speaking to them, and to the entire multitude, they showed them the fruits of the land.

²⁸ And they explained, saying: “We went into the land, to which you sent us, which, it is true, flows with milk and honey, as one can know by these fruits.

²⁹ But it has very strong occupants, and the cities are great and also walled. We saw the race of Anak there.

³⁰ Amalek lives in the south. The Hethite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite live in the mountains. And truly, the Canaanite stays near the sea and around the streams of the Jordan.”

³¹ During these events, Caleb, to restrain the murmuring of the people who rose up against Moses, said, “Let us ascend and possess the land, for we will be able to obtain it.”

³² Yet truly, the others, who had been with him, were saying, “By no means are we able to ascend to this people, because they are stronger than we are.”

³³ And before the sons of Israel they disparaged the land, which they had inspected, saying: “The land, which we viewed, devours its inhabitants. The people, upon whom we gazed, were of lofty stature.¹²

1. 13:33Notice the contradiction in their words. The land is so harsh that it devours its inhabitants, yet these same inhabitants are described as if they were powerful giants.(Conte)
2. 13:33Spoke ill, etc: These men, who by their misrepresentations of the land of promise, discouraged the Israelites from attempting the conquest of it, were a figure of worldlings, who, by decrying or misrepresenting true devotion, discourage Christians from seeking in earnest and acquiring so great a good, and thereby securing to themselves a happy eternity.(Challoner)

³⁴ There, we saw some monsters among the sons of Anak, of the race of giants; by comparison with them, we seemed like locusts.”