Numbers 13:26-33
The Spies’ Reports
26 They came back ▼▼tn The construction literally has “and they went and they entered,” which may be smoothed out as a verbal hendiadys, the one verb modifying the other.
to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. ▼ They reported ▼▼tn Heb “They brought back word”; the verb is the Hiphil preterite of שׁוּב (shuv).
to the whole community and showed the fruit of the land. 27They told Moses, ▼▼tn Heb “told him and said.” The referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
“We went to the land where you sent us. ▼▼tn The relative clause modifies “the land.” It is constructed with the relative and the verb: “where you sent us.”
It is indeed flowing with milk and honey, ▼▼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).
and this is its fruit. 28But ▼▼tn The word (אֶפֶס, ʾefes) forms a very strong adversative. The land was indeed rich and fruitful, but….”
the inhabitants ▼▼tn Heb “the people who are living in the land.”
are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. Moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29The Amalekites live in the land of the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the banks ▼▼tn Heb “by the side [hand] of.”
of the Jordan.” ▼▼sn For more discussion on these people groups, see D. J. Wiseman, ed., Peoples of Old Testament Times.
30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses, saying, “Let us go up ▼▼tn The construction is emphatic, using the cohortative with the infinitive absolute to strengthen it: עָלֹה נַעֲלֶה (ʿaloh naʿaleh, “let us go up”) with the sense of certainty and immediacy.
and occupy it, ▼▼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.
for we are well able to conquer it.” ▼▼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.”
31But the men ▼▼tn The vav (ו) disjunctive on the noun at the beginning of the clause forms a strong adversative clause here.
who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against these people, because they are stronger than we are!” 32Then they presented the Israelites with a discouraging report ▼▼tn Or “an evil report,” i.e., one that was a defamation of the grace of God.
of the land they had investigated, saying, “The land that we passed through ▼▼tn Heb “which we passed over in it”; the pronoun on the preposition serves as a resumptive pronoun for the relative, and need not be translated literally.
to investigate is a land that devours ▼▼tn The verb is the feminine singular participle from אָכַל (ʾakhal); it modifies the land as a “devouring land,” a bold figure for the difficulty of living in the place.
its inhabitants. ▼▼sn The expression has been interpreted in a number of ways by commentators, such as that the land was infertile, that the Canaanites were cannibals, that it was a land filled with warlike dissensions, or that it denotes a land geared for battle. It may be that they intended the land to seem infertile and insecure.
All the people we saw there ▼▼tn Heb “in its midst.”
are of great stature. 33We even saw the Nephilim ▼▼tc The Greek version uses γίγαντας (gigantas, “giants”) to translate “the Nephilim,” but it does not retain the clause “the sons of Anak are from the Nephilim.”
▼ there (the descendants of Anak came from the Nephilim), and we seemed like grasshoppers both to ourselves ▼▼tn Heb “in our eyes.”
and to them.” ▼▼tn Heb “in their eyes.”
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