All the Israelites complained about Moses and Aaron, and the whole community told them,“ If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness!
“ Send men to scout out the land of Canaan I am giving to the Israelites. Send one man who is a leader among them from each of their ancestral tribes.”Moses sent them from the Wilderness of Paran at the Lord’s command. All the men were leaders in Israel.These were their names: Shammua son of Zaccur from the tribe of Reuben;Shaphat son of Hori from the tribe of Simeon;Caleb son of Jephunneh from the tribe of Judah;Igal son of Joseph from the tribe of Issachar;Hoshea son of Nun from the tribe of Ephraim;Palti son of Raphu from the tribe of Benjamin;Gaddiel son of Sodi from the tribe of Zebulun;Gaddi son of Susi from the tribe of Manasseh( from the tribe of Joseph);Ammiel son of Gemalli from the tribe of Dan;Sethur son of Michael from the tribe of Asher;Nahbi son of Vophsi from the tribe of Naphtali;Geuel son of Machi from the tribe of Gad.These were the names of the men Moses sent to scout out the land, and Moses renamed Hoshea son of Nun, Joshua.When Moses sent them to scout out the land of Canaan, he told them,“ Go up this way to the Negev, then go up into the hill country.See what the land is like, and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many.Is the land they live in good or bad? Are the cities they live in encampments or fortifications?Is the land fertile or unproductive? Are there trees in it or not? Be courageous. Bring back some fruit from the land.” It was the season for the first ripe grapes.So they went up and scouted out the land from the Wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob near the entrance to Hamath.They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were living. Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.When they came to the Valley of Eshcol, they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes, which was carried on a pole by two men. They also took some pomegranates and figs.That place was called the Valley of Eshcol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut there.At the end of 40 days they returned from scouting out the land.The men went back to Moses, Aaron, and the entire Israelite community in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They brought back a report for them and the whole community, and they showed them the fruit of the land.
The descendants of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him,“ You know what the Lord promised Moses the man of God at Kadesh-barnea about you and me.I was 40 years old when Moses the Lord’s servant sent me from Kadesh-barnea to scout the land, and I brought back an honest report.
“ We then set out from Horeb and went across all the great and terrible wilderness you saw on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, just as the Lord our God had commanded us. When we reached Kadesh-barnea,I said to you: You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us.See, the Lord your God has set the land before you. Go up and take possession of it as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.“ Then all of you approached me and said,‘ Let’s send men ahead of us, so that they may explore the land for us and bring us back a report about the route we should go up and the cities we will come to.’The plan seemed good to me, so I selected 12 men from among you, one man for each tribe.They left and went up into the hill country and came to the Valley of Eshcol, scouting the land.They took some of the fruit from the land in their hands, carried it down to us, and brought us back a report:‘ The land the Lord our God is giving us is good.’
