Numbers 13:2-15

13:2 “Send out men to investigate ¹  the land of Canaan, which I am giving ²  to the Israelites. You are to send one man from each ancestral tribe, ³  each one a leader among them.” 13:3 So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the command ⁴  of the Lord. All of them were leaders ⁵  of the Israelites.

13:4 Now these were their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur; 13:5 from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori; 13:6 from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh; 13:7 from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph; 13:8 from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun; 13:9 from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu; 13:10 from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi; 13:11 from the tribe ⁶  of Joseph, namely, the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi son of Susi; 13:12 from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli; 13:13 from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael; 13:14 from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vopshi; 13:15 from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki.

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¹ tn The imperfect tense with the conjunction is here subordinated to the preceding imperative to form the purpose clause. It can thus be translated “send…to investigate.”

² tn The participle here should be given a future interpretation, meaning “which I am about to give” or “which I am going to give.”

³ tn Heb “one man one man of the tribe of his fathers.”

⁴ tn Heb “mouth.”

⁵ tn Heb “heads.”

⁶ tc Some scholars emend “tribe” to “sons.” Cf. Num 1:10.