Numbers 13:17-29

17When 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

18and see what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, few or many,

19and whether the land they live in is good or bad, and whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or fortified cities,

20and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether or not there are forests in it. And be brave, and bring back some of the fruit of the land.” Now it was the time of year for the first ripe grapes.

21So they went up and investigated the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, at the entrance of Hamath.

22When they went up through the Negev, they came to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, descendants of Anak, were living. (Now Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

23When 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 between two men, as well as some of the pomegranates and the figs.

24That place was called the Eshcol Valley, because of the cluster of grapes that the Israelites cut from there.

25They returned from investigating the land after forty days.

26They came back to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They reported to the whole community and showed the fruit of the land.

27They told Moses, “We went to the land where you sent us. It is indeed flowing with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

28But the inhabitants are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. Moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there.

29The 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 of the Jordan.”