Numbers 13:16-17

13:16 These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to investigate the land. And Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua. ¹ 

The Spies’ Instructions

13:17 When Moses sent ²  them to investigate the land of Canaan, he told them, “Go up through the Negev, ³  and then go up into the hill country

Numbers 14:7

14:7 They said to the whole community of the Israelites, “The land we passed through to investigate is an exceedingly ⁴  good land.

Numbers 14:36

14:36 The men whom Moses sent to investigate the land, who returned and made the whole community murmur against him by producing ⁵  an evil report about the land,

Numbers 14:38

14:38 But Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among ⁶  the men who went to investigate the land, lived.

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¹ sn The difference in the names is slight, a change from “he saves” to “the Lord saves.” The Greek text of the OT used Iesoun for Hebrew Yeshua.

² tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the next verb of the same formation to express a temporal clause.

³ tn The instructions had them first go up into the southern desert of the land, and after passing through that, into the hill country of the Canaanites. The text could be rendered “into the Negev” as well as “through the Negev.”

⁴ tn The repetition of the adverb מְאֹד (mÿ’od) is used to express this: “very, very [good].”

⁵ tn The verb is the Hiphil infinitive construct with a lamed (ל) preposition from the root יָצָא (yatsa’, “to bring out”). The use of the infinitive here is epexegetical, that is, explaining how they caused the people to murmur.

⁶ tn The Hebrew text uses the preposition “from,” “some of” – “from those men.” The relative pronoun is added to make a smoother reading.