1. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2. Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan,
which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of
their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among
them.
3. And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the
wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the
children of Israel.
4. And these were their names: of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua
the son of Zaccur.
5. Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori.
6. Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.
7. Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph.
8. Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea the son of Nun.
9. Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu.
10. Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi.
11. Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh,
Gaddi the son of Susi.
12. Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli.
13. Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael.
14. Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi.
15. Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.
16. These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out
the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua.
17. And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said
unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the
mountain:
18. And see the land, what it is, and the people that dwelleth
therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many;
19. And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good
or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether
in tents, or in strong holds;
20. And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether
there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage,
and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the
time of the firstripe grapes.
21. So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness
of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath.
22. And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where
Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were.
(Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
23. And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from
thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it
between two upon a staff; and they brought of the
pomegranates, and of the figs.
24. The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the
cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from
thence.
25. And they returned from searching of the land after forty
days.
26. And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all
the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the
wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto
them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the
fruit of the land.
27. And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither
thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey;
and this is the fruit of it.
28. Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land,
and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we
saw the children of Anak there.
29. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the
Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the
mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the
coast of Jordan.
30. And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us
go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to
overcome it.
31. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go
up against the people; for they are stronger than we.
32. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they
had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land,
through which we have gone to search it, is a land that
eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that
we saw in it are men of a great stature.
33. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of
the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers,
and so we were in their sight.
Chapter 14
1. And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried;
and the people wept that night.
2. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and
against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them,
Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would
God we had died in this wilderness!
3. And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to
fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be
a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
4. And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let
us return into Egypt.
5. Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the
assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
6. And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh,
which were of them that searched the land, rent their
clothes:
7. And they spake unto all the company of the children of
Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search
it, is an exceeding good land.
8. If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this
land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and
honey.
9. Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the
people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence
is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them
not.
10. But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And
the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the
congregation before all the children of Israel.
11. And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people
provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for
all the signs which I have shewed among them?
12. I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them,
and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than
they.
13. And Moses said unto the LORD, Then the Egyptians shall hear
it, (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from
among them;)
14. And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for
they have heard that thou LORD art among this people, that
thou LORD art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth
over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a
pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night.
15. Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the
nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak,
saying,
16. Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the
land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them
in the wilderness.
17. And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great,
according as thou hast spoken, saying,
18. The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving
iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the
guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the
children unto the third and fourth generation.
19. Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people
according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast
forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.
20. And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word:
21. But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with
the glory of the LORD.
22. Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my
miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and
have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened
to my voice;
23. Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their
fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:
24. But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with
him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the
land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.
25. (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.)
Tomorrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the
way of the Red sea.
26. And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
27. How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which
murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the
children of Israel, which they murmur against me.
28. Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye
have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:
29. Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that
were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from
twenty years old and upward which have murmured against me.
30. Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which
I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of
Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
31. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them
will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have
despised.
32. But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this
wilderness.
33. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty
years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be
wasted in the wilderness.
34. After the number of the days in which ye searched the land,
even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your
iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of
promise.
35. I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil
congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this
wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.
36. And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who
returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against
him, by bringing up a slander upon the land,
37. Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the
land, died by the plague before the LORD.
38. But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh,
which were of the men that went to search the land, lived
still.
