13 Then 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.” 3 Then at Yahweh’s command, Mosheh sent them off from the Paran wilderness. They were all Israeli leaders 4 and their names were:

• Shammua (Zakkur’s son) from Reuven tribe,
• 5 Shafat (Hori’s son) from Shimeon tribe,
• 6 Kalev (Caleb—Yefunneh’s son) from Yehudah (Judah) tribe,
• 7 Yigal (Yosef’s son) from Yissakar tribe,
• 8 Hoshea (Nun’s son) from Efrayim tribe,
• 9 Palti (Rafu’s son) from Binyamin tribe,
• 10 Gaddiyel (Sodi’s son) from Zevulun tribe,
• 11 Gaddi (Susi’s son) from Yosef tribe,
• 12 Ammiyel (Gemalli’s son) from Dan tribe,
• 13 Setur (Mikael’s son) from Asher tribe,
• 14 Nahbi (Vofsi’s son) from Naftali tribe, and
• 15 Geuel (Maki’s son) from Gad tribe.

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

17 So Mosheh sent them to explore Kanaan, telling them, “Go through the Negev and then up into the hill country. 18 Find out what the land’s like, and whether the people living there are militarily strong or weak, and if they’re many or few. 19 Find out whether the land is good or bad, what cities they live in, and how fortified they are. 20 Find 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.)

21 So 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. 22 They 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). 23 When 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.)

19 “Then 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. 20 Then I told you all, ‘You’ve all come to the Amorite hill country, which our god Yahweh is giving us. 21 Look, 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.’ 22 Then 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.’ 23 That sounded good to me, so I took one man from each of the twelve tribes 24 and they went up into the hill country as far as the Eshkol valley, and the scouted it out. 25 They 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.

26 “But your parents were unwilling to proceed and rebelled against your god Yahweh’s command.[ref] 27 So 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. 28 You 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.

29 “Then I told your parents, ‘Don’t be terrified or afraid of them. 30 Your god Yahweh who goes ahead of you, he’ll fight for you just like everything you saw him do in Egypt 31 and 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] 32 However, you all didn’t believe your god Yahweh[ref] 33 who 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.