Bible Strands
Numbers 13:26
and they went back to Moses, Aaron, and the whole congregation of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They brought back a report for the whole congregation and showed them the fruit of the land.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The twelve scouts return to Moses, Aaron, and the entire Israelite assembly at Kadesh in the Wilderness of Paran after completing their forty-day mission. They stand before the gathered congregation to deliver their findings and physically present the harvested produce.
The words — וַיֵּלְכ֡וּ (va/yi.le.khu) means "and they went," and וַיָּבֹאוּ֩ (va/ya.vo.u) means "and they came," both marking the spies' physical return to their leaders. כָּל (kol) translates as "all," stressing that the complete congregation received the report and witnessed the displayed fruit.
The thread — The location Kadesh reappears in Numbers 20:1 and 20:16 as a sustained encampment and site of divine deliverance. Numbers 32:8 later references the same forty-day inspection to confront the generation that responded with fear rather than obedience.
Why it lands — The text records the factual handover of evidence and the physical return of the scouts prior to their spoken account. It requires the reader to observe how gathered data is formally presented to leadership and community before judgment or action is taken.
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 they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land.
Cross-references
- Numbers 32:8 This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to inspect the land.
- Numbers 20:1 In the first month, the whole congregation of Israel entered the Wilderness of Zin and stayed in Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.
- Numbers 20:16 and when we cried out to the LORD, He heard our voice, sent an angel, and brought us out of Egypt. Now look, we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory.
- Numbers 33:36 They set out from Ezion-geber and camped at Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin.
- Deuteronomy 1:19 And just as the LORD our God had commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites, through all the vast and terrifying wilderness you have seen. When we reached Kadesh-barnea,
- Joshua 14:6 Then the sons of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the LORD said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh-barnea about you and me.