Bible Strands
Numbers 13:18
See what the land is like and whether its people are strong or weak, few or many.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses issues this directive to the twelve spies he just commissioned to survey Canaan. The instruction occurs immediately after he orders them to travel through the Negev and into the hill country in Numbers 13:17.
The words — The Hebrew verb וּרְאִיתֶ֥ם (u./re.'i.Tem) means "and you will see," while מַה־ (mah-) translates literally to "what?" These terms frame the command as a direct inquiry into the territory's condition and the demographic reality of its inhabitants.
The thread — This emphasis on evaluating a land's quality and population structure appears in Exodus 3:8, where God describes Canaan as a good and spacious territory, and in Ezekiel 34:14, which promises future pastoral settlement. The spies' observation task directly precedes Moses' follow-up question about whether the local cities are open camps or fortifications in Numbers 13:19.
Why it lands — The text demands a factual inventory of the land's strength, population size, and settlement patterns before any military or migratory action is taken. It requires the reader to recognize that strategic preparation depends on accurate observation rather than assumption.
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 see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many;
Cross-references
- Exodus 3:8 I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
- Ezekiel 34:14 I will feed them in good pasture, and the lofty mountains of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in a good grazing land; they will feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.