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.

The Spies’ Instructions

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


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.

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

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.”