Numbers 13:17–29

¹⁷When Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, he told them, “Go up through the Negev and into the hill country. ¹⁸See what the land is like and whether its people are strong or weak, few or many. ¹⁹Is the land where they live good or bad? Are the cities where they dwell open camps or fortifications? ²⁰Is the soil fertile or unproductive? Are there trees in it or not? Be courageous and bring back some of the fruit of the land.” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)

²¹So they went up and spied out the land from the Wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo-hamath. ²²They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, dwelled. It had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.

²³When they came to the Valley of Eshcol,^b they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes, which they carried on a pole between two men. They also took some pomegranates and figs. ²⁴Because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut there, that place was called the Valley of Eshcol.

²⁵After forty days the men returned from spying out the land, ²⁶and they went back to Moses, Aaron, and the whole congregation of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They brought back a report for the whole congregation and showed them the fruit of the land.

²⁷And they gave this account to Moses: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and indeed, it is flowing with milk and honey. Here is some of its fruit! ²⁸Nevertheless, the people living in the land are strong, and the cities are large and fortified. We even saw the descendants of Anak there. ²⁹The Amalekites live in the land of the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the Jordan.”