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Numbers 13:17

in Numbers 13

When Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, he told them, “Go up through the Negev and into the hill country.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way by the South, and go up into the hill-country:

KJV

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:

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This verse in Numbers 13

Commentary

4 notes on this verse
Southward - Rather, “by the Negeb,” or south-country; a well-defined tract of territory forming the southernmost and least fertile portion of the land of Canaan and of the subsequent inheritance of Judah. It extended northward from Kadesh to within a few miles of Hebron, and from the Dead Sea westward to the Mediterranean (see especially Jos 15:21-32). Into the mountain - The hill-country of southern and central Canaan, mostly within the borders of Judah and Ephraim.

This site's exposition

Go up through the Negev and into the hill country

on Numbers 13:17-20

The brief is a set of questions about the land and its people, strong or weak, few or many, good or bad. Every one is answered accurately at verses 27 to 29, and the quarrel at verse 31 is over what the answers mean.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Get you up this way . . . , and go up into the mountain--Mount Seir (De 1:2), which lay directly from Sinai across the wilderness of Paran, in a northeasterly direction into the southern parts of the promised land.

The words behind it

15 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיִּשְׁלַ֤חand he sent

    vaiyishlachH7971 →845 times

  • אֹתָם֙<obj.> them

    ʾotamH853 →10935 times

  • מֹשֶׁ֔הMoses

    moshehH4872 →765 times

  • לָת֖וּרto spy out

    laturH8446 →24 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • אֶ֣רֶץ[the] land of

    ʾeretzH776 →2504 times

  • כְּנָ֑עַןCanaan

    kenaanH3667 →94 times

  • וַיֹּ֣אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • אֲלֵהֶ֗םto them

    ʾalehemH413 →5510 times

  • עֲל֥וּgo up

    ʾaluH5927 →890 times

  • זֶה֙this

    zehH2088 →1180 times

  • בַּנֶּ֔גֶבin the Negev

    banegevH5045 →112 times

  • וַעֲלִיתֶ֖םand you will go up

    vaalitemH5927 →890 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הָהָֽר׃the hill country

    haharH2022 →546 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

13 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Judges 1:9Afterward, the men of Judah marched down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country, in the Negev, and in the foothills.6 worksGenesis 12:9And Abram journeyed on toward the Negev.4 worksJudges 18:2So the Danites sent out five men from their clans, men of valor from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and explore it. “Go and explore the land,” they told them. The men entered the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah, where they spent the night.3 worksJudges 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.2 worksGenesis 13:1So Abram went up out of Egypt into the Negev—he and his wife and all his possessions—and Lot was with him.2 worksJoshua 15:3proceeded 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.2 works
The other 7 cross-references, with their words ▾
Judges 1:19The 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.2 worksNumbers 13:22They 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.2 worksGenesis 14:10Now 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.1 worksNumbers 14:40Early 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.”1 worksNumbers 13:21–22So they went up and spied out the land from the Wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo-hamath.1 worksNumbers 13:29The 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 Jordan.”1 worksDeuteronomy 1:44Then the Amorites who lived in the hills came out against you and chased you like a swarm of bees. They routed you from Seir all the way to Hormah.1 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    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.

    it leads to

    • Numbers 34:4

      cross south of the Ascent of Akrabbim, continue to Zin, and go south of Kadesh-barnea. Then it will go on to Hazar-addar and proceed to Azmon,

  • Through

    Genesis 12:9

    And Abram journeyed on toward the Negev.

    it leads to

    • Genesis 13:3

      From the Negev he journeyed from place to place toward Bethel, until he came to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had formerly been pitched,

    • Genesis 24:62

      Now Isaac had just returned from Beer-lahai-roi, for he was living in the Negev.

  • Through

    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.

    it leads to

    • Hebrews 6:7

      For land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is tended receives the blessing of God.

    • 1 Peter 3:9

      Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

  • Through

    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.

    it leads to

    • Genesis 12:9–20

      And Abram journeyed on toward the Negev.

    • 2 Samuel 24:7

      They went toward the fortress of Tyre and all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites. Finally, they went on to the Negev of Judah, to Beersheba.

    • Joshua 10:40

      So Joshua conquered the whole region—the hill country, the Negev, the foothills, and the slopes, together with all their kings—leaving no survivors. He devoted to destruction everything that breathed, just as the LORD, the…

Where this verse is studied

About Numbers

The Spies Return from the Promised Land — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
The Spies Return from the Promised Land — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Numbers: the study guide →Read Numbers 13 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).

Read on in Numbers 13 →