Numbers 13:25-33

The Spies' Reports

25 When they returned from spying out the land, at the end of forty days,

26 they proceeded to come to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at ¹Kadesh; and they brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land.

27 Thus they told him, and said, "We went in to the land where you sent us; and ²it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and ³this is its fruit.

28 "Nevertheless *, ⁴the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large; and moreover, we saw ⁵the descendants of Anak there.

29 "Amalek is living in the land of ⁶the Negev and the Hittites and the Jebusites and ⁷the Amorites are living in the hill country, and ⁸the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan."

30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, "We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it."

31 But the men who had gone up with him said, "⁹We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us."

32 So they gave out to the sons of Israel ¹⁰a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is ¹¹a land that devours its inhabitants; and ¹²all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size.

33 "There also we saw the ¹³Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim ); and ¹⁴we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."

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Numbers 13:25-33 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 13

In this chapter an order is given by the Lord, to send twelve men into the land of Canaan, to search and spy it, and which was accordingly executed, Nu 13:1-3; and the names of the twelve persons are given, Nu 13:4-16; the instructions they received from Moses, what part of the land they should enter into first, and what observations they should make on it, Nu 13:17-20; which they attended to, and on their return brought some of the fruit of the land with them, Nu 13:21-26; and gave an account of it, that it was a very fruitful land, but the inhabitants mighty, and their cities walled, Nu 13:27-29; which threw the people into confusion, but that they were stilled by Caleb, one of the spies, who encouraged them, Nu 13:30; but all the rest, excepting Joshua, brought an ill report of it, as not to be subdued and conquered by them, Nu 13:31-33.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 14

1. Numbers 20:1, 14; Numbers 32:8
2. Exodus 3:8, 17; Exodus 13:5
3. Deuteronomy 1:25
4. Deuteronomy 1:28; Deuteronomy 9:1, 2
5. Numbers 13:33
6. Numbers 13:17; Numbers 14:25, 45
7. Joshua 10:6
8. Numbers 14:43, 45
9. Deuteronomy 1:28; Deuteronomy 9:1-3
10. Numbers 14:36, 37; Psalms 106:24
11. Ezekiel 36:13, 14
12. Amos 2:9
13. Genesis 6:4
14. Deuteronomy 1:28; Deuteronomy 9:2; Joshua 11:21

Footnotes 4

[a]. Lit "to"
[b]. Lit "born ones"
[c]. Lit "toward"
[d]. Or "settlers"