Numbers 13:28-29

13:28 But ¹  the inhabitants ²  are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. Moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. 13:29 The 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 banks ³  of the Jordan.” ⁴ 

Numbers 13:32-33

13:32 Then they presented the Israelites with a discouraging ⁵  report of the land they had investigated, saying, “The land that we passed through ⁶  to investigate is a land that devours ⁷  its inhabitants. ⁸  All the people we saw there ⁹  are of great stature. 13:33 We even saw the Nephilim ¹⁰  there (the descendants of Anak came from the Nephilim), and we seemed liked grasshoppers both to ourselves ¹¹  and to them.” ¹² 

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¹ tn The word (אֶפֶס, ’efes) forms a very strong adversative. The land was indeed rich and fruitful, but….”

² tn Heb “the people who are living in the land.”

³ tn Heb “by the side [hand] of.”

⁴ sn For more discussion on these people groups, see D. J. Wiseman, ed., Peoples of Old Testament Times.

⁵ tn Or “an evil report,” i.e., one that was a defamation of the grace of God.

⁶ tn Heb “which we passed over in it”; the pronoun on the preposition serves as a resumptive pronoun for the relative, and need not be translated literally.

⁷ tn The verb is the feminine singular participle from אָכַל (’akhal); it modifies the land as a “devouring land,” a bold figure for the difficulty of living in the place.

⁸ sn The expression has been interpreted in a number of ways by commentators, such as that the land was infertile, that the Canaanites were cannibals, that it was a land filled with warlike dissensions, or that it denotes a land geared for battle. It may be that they intended the land to seem infertile and insecure.

⁹ tn Heb “in its midst.”

¹⁰ tc The Greek version uses gigantes (“giants”) to translate “the Nephilim,” but it does not retain the clause “the sons of Anak are from the Nephilim.”

sn The Nephilim are the legendary giants of antiquity. They are first discussed in Gen 6:4. This forms part of the pessimism of the spies’ report.

¹¹ tn Heb “in our eyes.”

¹² tn Heb “in their eyes.”