13:1¹ The LORD spoke² to Moses saying, 13:2 “Send men that they may investigate³ the land of Canaan, which I am giving⁴ to the Israelites. You are to send one man from each ancestral tribe,⁵ every one a leader among them.” 13:3 So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the command of the LORD. All of them men were leaders⁶ of the Israelites.

13:4 Now these were their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur; 13:5 from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori; 13:6 from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh; 13:7 from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph; 13:8 from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun; 13:9 from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu; 13:10 from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi; 13:11 from the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi; 13:12 from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli; 13:13 from the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael; 13:14 from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vopshi; 13:15 from the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Maki. 13:16 These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to investigate the land. And Moses named Hoshea the son of Nun “Joshua.”⁷

13:17 When Moses sent⁸ them to investigate the land of Canaan, he said to them, “Go up through the Negev,⁹ and then go up into the hill country,. 13:18 And see¹⁰ what the land is like,¹¹ and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, few or many; 13:19 and whether the land they live in is good or bad; and whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or fortified cities; 13:20 and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether or not there are forests in it. And be brave,¹² and bring some of the fruit of the land. Now it was the time of the year¹³ for the first ripe grapes.¹⁴

13:21 So they went up and investigated the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob,¹⁵ at the entrance of Hamath.¹⁶ 13:22 When they went up through the Negev they¹⁷ came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmal,¹⁸ descendants of Anak, were living. Now Hebrew had been built seven years before Zoan¹⁹ in Egypt. 13:23 When they came to the brook of Eshcol, they cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a staff²⁰ between two men, as well as some of the pomegranates and the figs. 13:24 That place was called²¹ the brook²² Eshcol, because of the cluster²³ of grapes that the Israelites cut from there. 13:25 And they returned from investigating the land after 40 days.

13:26 And they came back²⁴ to Moses and to Aaron, and to all the community of the Israelites, to the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh.²⁵ And they reported²⁶ to all the congregation, and showed the fruit of the land. 13:27 And they told Moses,²⁷and said, “We went to the land where you sent us.²⁸ It is indeed flowing with milk and honey,²⁹ and this is its fruit. 13:28 But³⁰ the inhabitants are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. Moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. 13:29 The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the banks³¹ of the Jordan.”³²

13:30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses, saying, “Let us go up³³ and occupy it,³⁴ for we are well able to conquer it.”³⁵ 13:31 But the men³⁶ who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against these people, because they are stronger than we.” 13:32 Then they presented the Israelites with a discouraging³⁷ report of the land they had investigated, saying, “The land that we passed through³⁸ to investigate is a land that devours³⁹ its inhabitants.⁴⁰ All the people we saw there are of great stature. 13:33 We even saw the Nephilim⁴¹ (the descendants of the Anak came from the Nephilim), and we seemed liked grasshoppers both to ourselves and to them.”