And they came unto the valley of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bore it upon a staff between two; they brought also of the pomegranates, and of the figs. That place was called the valley of Eshcol (that is, "cluster"). And they returned [{244}] from spying out the land at the end of forty days. And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, to the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, and said, "We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. Howbeit the people that dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. Amalek dwelleth in the land of the south: and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanite dwelleth by the sea, and along by the side of Jordan."

And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, "Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it."

But the men that went up with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we."

And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had spied out unto the children of Israel, saying, "The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight."

[{245}]

[{246}]

MOSES SMITING THE ROCK
By Murillo

[{247}]

And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, "Would God, that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore doth the Lord bring us unto this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones shall be a prey: were it not better for us to return into Egypt?"