Numbers 13:31

31 Soothly the other spyers, that were with him, said, We be not able to go up to this people, for it is stronger than we. (But the other spies who went with him said, We shall not be able to go up against these people, for they all be stronger than us!)

Numbers 13:31 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 13:31

But the men that went up with him
With Caleb, all but Joshua: the other ten

said, we be not able to go up against the people;
this they had not said before, though they plainly suggested it, and, to make the people believe this, had represented the inhabitants of the land of Canaan in the light they did; but now, in direct opposition to Caleb, fully expressed it, giving this reason for it:

for they [are] stronger than we;
being both of a larger size and more numerous.

Numbers 13:31 In-Context

29 Amalek dwelleth there in the south; Hittites, and Jebusites, and Amorites dwell in the hilly places; forsooth Canaanites dwell beside the sea, and beside the floods of Jordan. (and the Amalekites live there in the south; and the Hittites, and Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the Mediterranean Sea, and along the Jordan River.)
30 Among these things, or sayings, Caleb peaced the grouching of the people, that was made against Moses, and said, Go we up, and wield we the land, for we be able to get it. (Then after these words, Caleb tried to calm the grumbling of the people, and said, No matter! We shall go up, and take the land, for we be well able to get it.)
31 Soothly the other spyers, that were with him, said, We be not able to go up to this people, for it is stronger than we. (But the other spies who went with him said, We shall not be able to go up against these people, for they all be stronger than us!)
32 And they spake evil of the land which they had beheld, to the sons of Israel, and said, The land that we compassed devoureth his dwellers; the people that we beheld is of large stature; (And so, they gave a bad report about the land which they had seen, to the Israelites, and said, The land which we went about shall eat up anyone who shall go there to live; and the people, who we saw there, be of very large stature;)
33 there we saw some wonders against kind, of the sons of Anak, of the kind of giants, to which we were comparisoned, and were seen as locusts. (yea, we saw some wonders against kind there, the sons of Anak, who be giants, and compared to them, we felt as small as locusts, or like grasshoppers.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.