Numbers 13:31

31 But the others said, "We can't attack those people; they're way stronger than we are."

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 Amalekites are spread out in the Negev; Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites hold the hill country; and the Canaanites are established on the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan."
30 Caleb interrupted, called for silence before Moses and said, "Let's go up and take the land - now. We can do it."
31 But the others said, "We can't attack those people; they're way stronger than we are."
32 They spread scary rumors among the People of Israel. They said, "We scouted out the land from one end to the other - it's a land that swallows people whole. Everybody we saw was huge.
33 Why, we even saw the Nephilim giants (the Anak giants come from the Nephilim). Alongside them we felt like grasshoppers. And they looked down on us as if we were grasshoppers."
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.