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OET-RV by cross-referenced section NUM 13:1

NUM 13:1–13:33 ©

This is still a very early look into the unfinished text of the Open English Translation of the Bible. Please double-check the text in advance before using in public.

Twelve scouts sent into Kanaan

Num 13:1–33

Deu 1:19–33

13Then Yahweh told Mosheh (Moses), 2“Send some men in to explore Kanaan—the land that I’m giving to the Israelis. Send one man from each ancestral tribe—a leader within that tribe.” 3Then at Yahweh’s command, Mosheh sent them off from the Paran wilderness. They were all Israeli leaders 4and their names were:

16Mosheh called (Nun’s son) Hoshea, ‘Yehoshua’ (Joshua). Those were the names of the men that Mosheh sent out to explore Kanaan.

17So Mosheh sent them to explore Kanaan, telling them, “Go through the Negev and then up into the hill country. 18Find out what the land’s like, and whether the people living there are militarily strong or weak, and if they’re many or few. 19Find out whether the land is good or bad, what cities they live in, and how fortified they are. 20Find out whether the soil is fertile or not, whether or not there’s trees there. Be courageous and bring back some of the produce from that land.” (He said that because it was the time of the year when grapes were starting to ripen.)

21So the twelve men went and explored the region from the Tsin wilderness in the south, all the way up to Rehob at Levo-Hamat in the north. 22They started in the Negev, and went as far as Hevron where some of Anak’s descendents lived: Ahiman, Sheshay, Talmai. Hevron had been built seven years before Tsoan in Egypt (Heb. Mitsrayim). 23When they got to the Eshkol riverbed, they cut off a branch with a cluster of grapes, and carried it on a pole between two of them, along with some pomegranates and figs. 24(That place was then called Eshkol, meaning ‘cluster’, because of the cluster of grapes they’d taken from there.)

The reports from the scouts

25Forty days later, they returned from exploring that land 26and went to Kadash in the Paran wilderness. There they reported back to Mosheh and Aharon and all the assembled people, and showed them the fruit from the land, 27and told them, “We went to the land where you sent us, and it is indeed flowing with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28However, the people living in that land are powerful, and the cities are very well fortified. Also, some of the Anak people group live there. 29The Amalekite people live in the Negev, and the Hittites, Yebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country, and the Kanaanites live along the coast and along the Yordan river.”

30Then Kalev (Caleb) raised an arm to quieten the people in front of Mosheh and stated, “We’ll certainly go in there and take it over, because we’re capable of going against them.”

31But the men who’d gone in with him argued, “No,, we’re not able to battle against them because they’re stronger than us.” 32Then they went on to bring out a bad report to the Israelis about the land that they’d explored, saying, “The land that we passed to explore is a land that devours those who live in it. In addition, all the people we saw in there were tall and powerful, 33plus we saw the Nefilim (descendants of Anak), and we felt as small as grasshoppers compared to them, and that’s how they saw us as well.”[ref]


The spies

(Num. 13:1-33)

19Then we left Horev (Mt. Sinai) and went through that wide and dangerous wilderness that you saw on the way to the Amorite hill country as our god Yahweh had instructed us, eventually arriving at Kadesh-Barnea. 20Then I told you all, ‘You’ve all come to the Amorite hill country, which our god Yahweh is giving us. 21Look, your god Yahweh has given you[fn] the land that’s in front of you, so go ahead and take possession of it as Yahweh, your ancestors’ god has told you. Don’t be afraid and don’t be discouraged.’ 22Then you all approached me and suggested, ‘We should send some men ahead of us to scout out the place, and they can return and tell us the best way to get inside those cities.’ 23That sounded good to me, so I took one man from each of the twelve tribes 24and they went up into the hill country as far as the Eshkol valley, and the scouted it out. 25They picked some fruit from there and brought it back to us, and reported that the land that our god Yahweh is giving us was very good.

26But your parents were unwilling to proceed and rebelled against your god Yahweh’s command.[ref] 27So you all grumbled in your tents, saying that it was because Yahweh hated us that he brought us out of Egypt to hand us over to the Amorites to be destroyed. 28You said that you all didn’t want to enter because the people were so tall and strong and their cities were fortified and powerful with very high walls around them.

29Then I told your parents, ‘Don’t be terrified or afraid of them. 30Your god Yahweh who goes ahead of you, he’ll fight for you just like everything you saw him do in Egypt 31and in the wilderness, where you saw how your god Yahweh carried you like a father carries his son—getting you through that difficult region until you all eventually arrived here.’[ref] 32However, you all didn’t believe your god Yahweh[ref] 33who had gone ahead of you to find a good place for you all to make your camp—using fire at night to show you all the way, and cloud in the daytime.


1:21 The you(pl) in the previous verse has switched to you(sg) here.


Collected OET-RV cross-references

Gen 6:4:

4The NEFILIM were on the earth in those days and also after that, when the sons of God went to the daughters of humankind and they bore children for them. INVESTIGATE They were the mighty warriors of long ago—those famous men.[ref]


6:4: Num 13:33.

Deu 9:23:

23Also when Yahweh sent you all from Kadesh-Barnea, saying, ‘Go in and take possession of the land that I’ve given to you,’ but you rebelled against your god Yahweh’s words, and you didn’t believe him and didn’t do what he said.[ref]


9:23: a Num 13:17; b Deu 1:21; c Num 13:31; Deu 1:26; Heb 3:16.

Heb 3:16:

16Did some people heard and yet rebel? Didn’t Mosheh lead all of the people out of Egypt (Mitsrayim)?[ref]


3:16-18: Num 14:1-35.

Acts 13:18:

18and endured them in the wilderness for around forty years.

Heb 3:19:

19So we can now see that they weren’t able to enter the promised land because of their unbelief.
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