Numbers 13:1-6

Spies Sent to Spy Out the Land of Canaan

1 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
2 "Send for yourself men, and let them explore the land of Canaan, which I [am about] to give to the {Israelites}; {from each tribe of his father send one man}, everyone a leader among them."
3 So Moses sent them from the desert of Paran on the command of Yahweh; all of the men [were] {leaders} of the {Israelites}.
4 And these [are] their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur;
5 from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori;
6 from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh;

Numbers 13:1-6 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.

Footnotes 4

  • [a]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"
  • [b]. Literally "one man one man from the tribe of his father"
  • [c]. Literally "heads"
  • [d]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.