Bilangan 13:1-2

Spies Sent Out

13:1 ¹ The Lord spoke ²  to Moses: 13:2 “Send out men to investigate ³  the land of Canaan, which I am giving ⁴  to the Israelites. You are to send one man from each ancestral tribe, ⁵  each one a leader among them.”

Bilangan 13:27-28

13:27 They told Moses, ⁶  “We went to the land where you sent us. ⁷  It is indeed flowing with milk and honey, ⁸  and this is its fruit. 13:28 But ⁹  the inhabitants ¹⁰  are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. Moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there.

Bilangan 13:30

13:30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses, saying, “Let us go up ¹¹  and occupy it, ¹²  for we are well able to conquer it.” ¹³ 

[13:1]  ¹ sn Chapter 13 provides the names of the spies sent into the land (vv. 1-16), their instructions (vv. 17-20), their activities (vv. 21-25), and their reports (vv. 26-33). It is a chapter that serves as a good lesson on faith, for some of the spies walked by faith, and some by sight.

[13:1]  ² tn The verse starts with the vav (ו) consecutive on the verb: “and….”

[13:2]  ³ tn The imperfect tense with the conjunction is here subordinated to the preceding imperative to form the purpose clause. It can thus be translated “send…to investigate.”

[13:2]  ⁴ tn The participle here should be given a future interpretation, meaning “which I am about to give” or “which I am going to give.”

[13:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “one man one man of the tribe of his fathers.”

[13:27]  ⁶ tn Heb “told him and said.” The referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:27]  ⁷ tn The relative clause modifies “the land.” It is constructed with the relative and the verb: “where you sent us.”

[13:27]  ⁸ sn This is the common expression for the material abundance of the land (see further, F. C. Fensham, “An Ancient Tradition of the Fertility of Palestine,” PEQ 98 [1966]: 166-67).

[13:28]  ⁹ tn The word (אֶפֶס, ’efes) forms a very strong adversative. The land was indeed rich and fruitful, but….”

[13:28]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the people who are living in the land.”

[13:30]  ¹¹ tn The construction is emphatic, using the cohortative with the infinitive absolute to strengthen it: עָלֹה נַעֲלֶה (’aloh na’aleh, “let us go up”) with the sense of certainty and immediacy.

[13:30]  ¹² tn The perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive brings the cohortative idea forward: “and let us possess it”; it may also be subordinated to form a purpose or result idea.

[13:30]  ¹³ tn Here again the confidence of Caleb is expressed with the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense: יָכוֹל נוּכַל (yakhol nukhal), “we are fully able” to do this. The verb יָכַל (yakhal) followed by the preposition lamed means “to prevail over, to conquer.”