Bible Strands
Numbers 13:28
Nevertheless, the people living in the land are strong, and the cities are large and fortified. We even saw the descendants of Anak there.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The twelve scouts deliver their report to Moses and the Israelite assembly immediately after describing the land's agricultural abundance.
The words — The Hebrew אֶפֶס ('efes) literally means "nothing" or "none," functioning here as a concessive "nevertheless," while עָז ('az) denotes physical or military strength.
The thread — The scouts' observation of fortified cities and powerful populations recurs in Deuteronomy 1:28 as the basis for Israel's fear, and in Numbers 13:33 where the same account expands to include the Nephilim.
Why it lands — The passage records a concrete military assessment before any theological or emotional conclusion is applied. It requires a reader to confront the stated reality of enemy strength without bypassing the text to manufacture fear or faith.
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
Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 1:28 Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying: ‘The people are larger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the heavens. We even saw the descendants of the Anakim there.’”
- Deuteronomy 9:1 Hear, O Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities fortified to the heavens.
- Numbers 13:33 We even saw the Nephilim there—the descendants of Anak that come from the Nephilim! We seemed like grasshoppers in our own sight, and we must have seemed the same to them!”
- Joshua 11:22 No Anakim were left in the land of the Israelites; only in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod did any survive.
- Deuteronomy 2:10 (The Emites used to live there, a people great and many, as tall as the Anakites.
- Deuteronomy 2:21 They were a people great and many, as tall as the Anakites. But the LORD destroyed them from before the Ammonites, who drove them out and settled in their place,
- Deuteronomy 3:5 All these cities were fortified with high walls and gates and bars, and there were many more unwalled villages.
- Joshua 15:14 And Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak—the descendants of Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai, the children of Anak.
- Numbers 13:22 They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, dwelled. It had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.
- Judges 1:20 Just as Moses had promised, Judah gave Hebron to Caleb, who drove out the descendants of the three sons of Anak.