Numbers 13:23

13:23 When they came to the valley of Eshcol, they cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a staff ¹  between two men, as well as some of the pomegranates and the figs.

Numbers 14:25

14:25 (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites were living in the valleys.) ²  Tomorrow, turn and journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.”

Numbers 32:9

32:9 When ³  they went up to the Eshcol Valley and saw the land, they frustrated the intent of the Israelites so that they did not enter ⁴  the land that the Lord had given ⁵  them.

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¹ tn The word is related etymologically to the verb for “slip, slide, bend, totter.” This would fit the use very well. A pole that would not bend would be hard to use to carry things, but a pole or stave that was flexible would serve well.

² sn The judgment on Israel is that they turn back to the desert and not attack the tribes in the land. So a parenthetical clause is inserted to state who was living there. They would surely block the entrance to the land from the south – unless God removed them. And he is not going to do that for Israel.

³ tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the parallel yet chronologically later verb in the next clause.

⁴ tn The infinitive construct here with lamed (ל) is functioning as a result clause.

⁵ tn The Lord had not given it yet, but was going to give it. Hence, the perfect should be classified as a perfect of resolve.