Deuteronomy 1:22
וַתִּקְרְבוּן אֵלַי כֻּלְּכֶם וַתֹּאמְרוּ נִשְׁלְחָה אֲנָשִׁים לְפָנֵינוּ וְיַחְפְּרוּ־לָנוּ אֶת־הָאָרֶץ וְיָשִׁבוּ אֹתָנוּ דָּבָר אֶת־הַדֶּרֶךְ אֲשֶׁר נַעֲלֶה־בָּהּ וְאֵת הֶֽעָרִים אֲשֶׁר נָבֹא אֲלֵיהֶֽן׃
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַתִּקְרְב֣וּן אֵלַי֮ כֻּלְּכֶם֒ וַתֹּאמְר֗וּ נִשְׁלְחָ֤ה אֲנָשִׁים֙ לְפָנֵ֔ינוּ וְיַחְפְּרוּ־לָ֖נוּ אֶת־הָאָ֑רֶץ וְיָשִׁ֤בוּ אֹתָ֙נוּ֙ דָּבָ֔ר אֶת־הַדֶּ֙רֶךְ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר נַעֲלֶה־בָּ֔הּ וְאֵת֙ הֶֽעָרִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר נָבֹ֖א אֲלֵיהֶֽן׃
καὶ προσήλθατέ μοι πάντες καὶ εἴπατε᾿ Ἀποστείλωμεν ἄνδρας προτέρους ἡμῶν καὶ ἐφοδευσάτωσαν ἡμὶν τὴν γῆν, καὶ άοαγγεθκάτωσαν ἡμῖν ἀπόκρισιν, τὴν ὁδὸν δι’ ἧς ἀναβησόμεθα ἐν καὶ τὰς πόλεις εἰς ἃς εἰσπορευσόμεθα εἰς αὐτάς.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Et accessistis ad me omnes, atque dixistis: Mittamus viros qui considerent terram: et renuntient per quod iter debeamus ascendere, et ad quas pergere civitates.
Se acercaron a mí, todos ustedes, y dijeron: “Enviemos hombres delante de nosotros, para que nos busquen por la tierra y nos traigan la noticia del camino por el que debemos subir y de las ciudades a las que debemos llegar.”
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y llegasteis á mí todos vosotros, y dijisteis: Enviemos varones delante de nosotros, que nos reconozcan la tierra y nos traigan de vuelta razón del camino por donde hemos de subir, y de las ciudades adonde hemos de llegar.
Then all of you approached me and said, “ Let us send men ahead of us to search out the land and bring us word of what route to follow and which cities to enter.”
✦ What the text says
Summary
Deuteronomy 1:22 recounts the moment when the entire people approached Moses and proposed sending men ahead to scout the land, so that these scouts could report back on the route to take and the cities they would encounter. The verse is structured as narrated speech, embedding a direct quotation of the people's collective proposal.
Key words
- tikreVun ("you drew near", H7126G) — qal narrative verb with paragoic nun suffix, adding emphasis to the collective approach of the people.
- nishlechah ("let us send out", H7971G) — qal form expressing a cohortative/proposed action, the people's suggestion in first person plural.
- yachperu ("they may spy out", H2658) — imperfect with vav, marking purpose or sequential result following the sending of men.
- yashivu ("they may bring back", H7725G) — hiphil (causative) imperfect with vav, indicating the scouts would cause a report to return, i.e., deliver it.
- na'aleh ("we will go up", H5927G) — qal imperfect, describing the anticipated future ascent into the land.
What the text says
The verse opens with two narrative-vav verbs, tikreVun ("you drew near", H7126G) and tomeru ("you said", H0559), which chain the action: the people approached Moses and then spoke. The paragogic nun on tikreVun adds emphasis, underscoring that "all of you" (kullekhem, H3605 + H9026) took part in this approach — the totality of the group is stressed both by this suffix and by the following construct phrase "all of you."
The quoted speech itself begins with nishlechah ("let us send out", H7971G), a proposal in first-person plural voice. This is followed by a purpose clause built on two imperfect verbs joined by vav: yachperu ("they may spy out", H2658) and yashivu ("they may bring back", H7725G). The second of these is in the hiphil stem, a causative form — the scouts do not simply "return" but actively "cause word to return" to the people, i.e., deliver a report. The object of this report is davar ("word", H1697G), specified further by two relative clauses introduced by asher ("which", H0834A): one concerning "the way" (ha-derekh, H1870K) on which "we will go up" (na'aleh, H5927G), and another concerning "the cities" (ha-'arim, H5892B) to which "we will go" (navo, H0935G). Both final verbs are qal imperfect, marking anticipated future action from the people's perspective.
Differences between versions
The Vulgate renders the purpose clauses more compactly, using "renuntient" ("let them report back") for the Hebrew's two-verb sequence yachperu...yashivu, and omits an explicit equivalent for davar ("word", H1697G), stating only "per quod iter debeamus ascendere" ("by which way we ought to ascend"). The LXX similarly renders the causative yashivu with ἀναγγειλάτωσαν ("let them announce"), paired with ἀπόκρισιν ("answer/report"), which corresponds to davar but shifts the semantic field from "word" to "reply."
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.