Discovery BoxNumbers 13:1-16 
Context13:1 1 The Lord spoke 2 to Moses: 13:2 “Send out men to investigate 3 the land of Canaan, which I am giving 4 to the Israelites. You are to send one man from each ancestral tribe, 5 each one a leader among them.” 13:3 So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the command 6 of the Lord. All of them were leaders 7 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 8 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. 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. 9
1 sn Chapter 13 provides the names of the spies sent into the land (vv. 1-16), their instructions (vv. 17-20), their activities (vv. 21-25), and their reports (vv. 26-33). It is a chapter that serves as a good lesson on faith, for some of the spies walked by faith, and some by sight.
2 tn The verse starts with the vav (ו) consecutive on the verb: “and….”
3 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.”
4 tn The participle here should be given a future interpretation, meaning “which I am about to give” or “which I am going to give.”
5 tn Heb “one man one man of the tribe of his fathers.”
6 tn Heb “mouth.”
7 tn Heb “heads.”
8 tc Some scholars emend “tribe” to “sons.” Cf. Num 1:10.
9 sn The difference in the names is slight, a change from “he saves” to “the
