Bible Strands
Numbers 13:17
When Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, he told them, “Go up through the Negev and into the hill country.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the twelve scouts at the precise moment he commissions them to survey Canaan. He issues the initial directional command before listing their observational requirements.
The words — The Hebrew term לָתוּר (la/Tur) literally means to spy out or conduct a military reconnaissance. It defines the mission as a targeted assessment rather than a general exploration.
The thread — The Negev appears in Genesis 12:9 and 13:1 as a route Abram follows, and in Judges 1:9 as a region Judah attacks. These references establish the Negev as a repeated geographic and military corridor.
Why it lands — The text explicitly commands the scouts to move through specific terrain before they evaluate the land. It requires readers to follow precise geographic instructions as the necessary first step toward any broader assessment.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain:
Cross-references
- Judges 1:9 Afterward, the men of Judah marched down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country, in the Negev, and in the foothills.
- Genesis 12:9 And Abram journeyed on toward the Negev.
- Genesis 13:1 So Abram went up out of Egypt into the Negev—he and his wife and all his possessions—and Lot was with him.
- Joshua 15:3 proceeded south of the Ascent of Akrabbim, continued on to Zin, went over to the south of Kadesh-barnea, ran past Hezron up to Addar, and curved toward Karka.
- Judges 1:15 “Give me a blessing,” she answered. “Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me springs of water as well.” So Caleb gave her both the upper and lower springs.
- Judges 1:19 The LORD was with Judah, and they took possession of the hill country; but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the plains because they had chariots of iron.
- Genesis 14:10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some men fell into the pits, but the survivors fled to the hill country.
- Numbers 13:21 So they went up and spied out the land from the Wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo-hamath.
- Numbers 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 Jordan.”
- Numbers 14:40 Early the next morning they got up and went up toward the ridge of the hill country. “We have indeed sinned,” they said, “but we will go to the place the LORD has promised.”