22. All of you came to me and said, “Let’s send men ahead of us to gather information about the land for us. Have them report to us about the route we should take and the cities we’ll come to.”
23. It seemed like a good idea to me. So I chose 12 of your men, one from each tribe.
24. They left and went into the mountains. When they came to the Eshcol Valley, they explored it.
25. They took some of the region’s fruit with them and brought it back to us. They reported, “The land that the Lord our God is giving us is good.”
26. But you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God and refused to go.
27. You complained in your tents and said, “The Lord hates us! That’s why he brought us out of Egypt. He wanted to hand us over to the Amorites so that they could destroy us!
28. Where are we going anyway? Our own men have discouraged us by saying, ‘The people there are taller and stronger than we are. The cities are big with sky-high walls! We even saw the people of Anak there.’ ”
29. Then I said to you, “Don’t tremble. Don’t be afraid of them.