Knox Bible

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It was after leaving Haseroth that the people encamped in the desert of Pharan;

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and here the Lord spoke to Moses,

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bidding him send out men of mark, one from each tribe, to survey Israel’s promised inheritance, the land of Chanaan.

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This Moses did; and the names of the leading men he despatched from the desert of Pharan were these:

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Sammua son of Zechur from Ruben,

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Saphat son of Huri from Simeon,

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Caleb son of Jephone from Juda,

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Igal son of Joseph from Issachar,

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Osee son of Nun from Ephraim,

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Phalti son of Raphu from Benjamin,

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Geddiel son of Sodi from Zabulon,

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Gaddi son of Susi from Manasses’ branch of the tribe of Joseph,

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Ammiel son of Gemalli from Dan,

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Sathur son of Michael from Aser,

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Nahabi son of Vapsi from Nephthali,

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Guel son of Machi from Gad.

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Such were the names of the men Moses sent out to survey the land, and to Osee, son of Nun, he gave the fresh name of Josue.

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And these were the directions Moses gave them for their survey of Chanaan: Make your way in by the south, and when you reach the hill country

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look well at the land about you. Are its inhabitants strong or weak, many in number or few?

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Is the land itself prosperous or starved, has it walled cities or unwalled,

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fertile soil or barren, is it well wooded or bare? Take heart for your enterprise, and bring back with you some sample of what the land yields. (It was the season, then, at which early grapes are already fit to eat.)

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So they surveyed the land all the way up from the desert of Sin to Rohob, on the way to Emath.

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At the southern end of it, when they reached Hebron, they found the sons of Enac there, Achiman and Sisai and Tholmai; Hebron had been founded seven years before the Egyptian city of Tanis.

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They also made their way to the Ravine of Grapes and cut off a branch with a cluster hanging from it, that needed two men with a pole to carry it; these they brought with them, as well as some of the pomegranates and figs that grew there.

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It was from this cluster which the Israelites carried away that the place got its name of Nehelescol, the Ravine of Grapes.

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Forty days had passed before they returned from their survey, after traversing the whole country,

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to find Moses and Aaron and all the people of Israel still in the desert of Pharan, by Cades. To these and to the whole multitude they made their report, and shewed them what fruit the land yielded.

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And this was the story they told: When we reached the land where our errand lay, we found it indeed a land all milk and honey, as this fruit will prove to you;

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but it is a powerful race that dwells in it, with strong walled cities; such were the sons of Enac, whom we saw there.

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The south is occupied by Amelec, the mountain parts by Hethites, Jebusites and Amorrhites; by the sea, and round the Jordan river, the Chanaanites are in possession.

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And now, to still the rising outcry against Moses, Caleb spurred the people on to invade the land and conquer it; It is ready to fall into your hands, he said.

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But his companions told them, We cannot attack such a people as this; they are too strong for us.

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And they gave the Israelites an ill account of what they had seen in Chanaan; This country we surveyed, they told them, has too many inhabitants already.✻ Tall of frame are the men we viewed there;

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nay, some we saw, the race of Enac, of monstrous size as if they were sprung from giants; we looked no bigger than locusts beside them.