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20 Is the soil fertile or barren, wooded or clear? And do your best to get some of the fruit of the land.” It was then the season for early grapes.

21 So they went up and reconnoitered the land from the wilderness of Zin[a] as far as where Rehob adjoins Lebo-hamath. 22 (A)Going up by way of the Negeb, they reached Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, descendants of the Anakim,[b] were. (Now Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

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Footnotes

  1. 13:21 The wilderness of Zin: north of Paran and southwest of the Dead Sea. It is quite distinct from “the wilderness of Sin” near the border of Egypt (Ex 16:1; 17:1; Nm 33:11). Lebo-hamath: a town near Riblah (Jer 39:5–6) at the southern border of Hamath, an independent kingdom in southern Syria. David’s conquests extended as far as Hamath (2 Sm 8:9–11), and Lebo-hamath thus formed the northern border of the ideal extent of Israel’s possessions (Nm 34:7–9; Ez 47:15; 48:1). This may suggest that this verse was inserted precisely to extend the scope of the reconnaissance; cf. Dt 1:24.
  2. 13:22, 28 Anakim: an aboriginal race in southern Palestine, largely absorbed by the Canaanites. Either because of their tall stature or because of the massive stone structures left by them, the Israelites regarded them as giants.

20 How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.(A)” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)(B)

21 So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin(C) as far as Rehob,(D) toward Lebo Hamath.(E) 22 They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron,(F) where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai,(G) the descendants of Anak,(H) lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)(I)

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