The Message Bible MSG
King James Version KJV
1 God spoke to Moses:
1
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 "Send men to scout out the country of Canaan that I am giving to the People of Israel. Send one man from each ancestral tribe, each one a tried-and-true leader in the tribe."
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Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them.
3 So Moses sent them off from the Wilderness of Paran at the command of God. All of them were leaders in Israel, one from each tribe.
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And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel.
4 These were their names: from Reuben: Shammua son of Zaccur
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And these were their names: of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur.
5 from Simeon: Shaphat son of Hori
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Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori.
6 from Judah: Caleb son of Jephunneh
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Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.
7 from Issachar: Igal son of Joseph
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Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph.
8 from Ephraim: Hoshea son of Nun
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Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea the son of Nun.
9 from Benjamin: Palti son of Raphu
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Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu.
10 from Zebulun: Gaddiel son of Sodi
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Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi.
11 from Manasseh (a Joseph tribe): Gaddi son of Susi
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Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi.
12 from Dan: Ammiel son of Gemalli
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Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli.
13 from Asher: Sethur son of Michael
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Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael.
14 from Naphtali: Nahbi son of Vophsi
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Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi.
15 from Gad: Geuel son of Maki
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Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.
16 These are the names of the men Moses sent to scout out the land. Moses gave Hoshea (Salvation) son of Nun a new name - Joshua (God-Saves).
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These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua.
17 When Moses sent them off to scout out Canaan, he said, "Go up through the Negev and then into the hill country.
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And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain:
18 Look the land over, see what it is like. Assess the people: Are they strong or weak? Are there few or many?
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And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many;
19 Observe the land: Is it pleasant or harsh? Describe the towns where they live: Are they open camps or fortified with walls?
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And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds;
20 And the soil: Is it fertile or barren? Are there forests? And try to bring back a sample of the produce that grows there - this is the season for the first ripe grapes."
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And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes.
21 With that they were on their way. They scouted out the land from the Wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob toward Lebo Hamath.
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So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath.
22 Their route went through the Negev Desert to the town of Hebron. Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, descendants of the giant Anak, lived there. Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.
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And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
23 When they arrived at the Eshcol Valley they cut off a branch with a single cluster of grapes - it took two men to carry it - slung on a pole. They also picked some pomegranates and figs.
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And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.
24 They named the place Eshcol Valley (Grape-Cluster-Valley) because of the huge cluster of grapes they had cut down there.
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The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence.
25 After forty days of scouting out the land, they returned home.
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And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.
26 They presented themselves before Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation of the People of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They reported to the whole congregation and showed them the fruit of the land.
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And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land.
27 Then they told the story of their trip:
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And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.
28 The only thing is that the people who live there are fierce, their cities are huge and well fortified. Worse yet, we saw descendants of the giant Anak.
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Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.
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."
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The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.
30 Caleb interrupted, called for silence before Moses and said, "Let's go up and take the land - now. We can do it."
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And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.
31 But the others said, "We can't attack those people; they're way stronger than we are."
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But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.
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.
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And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.
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."
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And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
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.
The King James Version is in the public domain.