Numbers 13:21

Summary

The verse reports that the scouts went up and explored the land, tracing a route from the wilderness of Zin northward to Rehob, near the entrance of Hamath. It functions as a geographical summary closing the instructions given earlier in the chapter.

Key words

• va-yya'alu ("they went up", H5927G) — qal narrative verb (vav-consecutive), marking sequential action: the first event in the chain.
• va-yyaturu ("they spied out", H8446) — qal narrative verb, second link in the narrative chain, describing the act of reconnaissance itself.
• mimidbar ("from the wilderness of", H4057B) — construct noun with prefixed preposition min ("from"), placing the starting point of the route in construct relation to the place name Tzin.
• rechov ("Rehob", H7340K) — proper noun marking the endpoint reached, linked to the starting point by the preposition 'ad ("to", H5704).
• levo' ("Lebo" / "to come", H0935H) — qal infinitive construct of the verb "to come/enter," functioning here as part of a place-name or directional phrase attached to Chamat ("Hamath", H2574G).

What the text says

The verse is built on two narrative verbs joined by the vav-consecutive construction: va-yya'alu ("and they went up") and va-yyaturu ("and they spied out"). This chain presents the actions as sequential events within the ongoing story — first ascent, then exploration — rather than as isolated or simultaneous acts. The object of the spying is marked explicitly by the direct object marker 'et (H0853) before ha-'aretz ("the land", H0776G), confirming that "the land" is the direct object of yaturu.

The geographical clause that follows uses a min...'ad ("from...to") construction: mi-midbar Tzin ("from the wilderness of Zin") to 'ad Rechov ("to Rehob"), establishing a spatial range for the scouting expedition. The final phrase, levo' Chamat, uses the infinitive construct levo' ("to come/enter") governing the place name Chamat ("Hamath"). This infinitive construction can denote either a place known as "Lebo-hamath" or the sense of "approaching/entering Hamath," a nuance that differs depending on whether levo' is read as part of a proper name or as a descriptive infinitive phrase — a distinction not visible in translations that render it either as a place name ("Lebo-hamath," BSB) or as a verbal phrase ("entering Emath," RV1909; "hasta la entrada de Hamat," SBLIBRE).

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text (TAHOT) of Numbers 13:21 describes the scouts' journey through named locations. The Greek (LXXSWETE) and Latin (VULCLEM) texts supplied here correspond instead to content resembling Numbers 13:20, concerning the fertility of the land and the season of grapes, not the geographical itinerary of verse 21. No direct comparison of wording for this specific verse is possible from the LXX/Vulgate texts given. Among the modern translations, RV1909 and SBLIBRE render levo' Chamat as a verbal phrase ("entering/hasta la entrada de Hamat"), while BSB treats it as a proper place name ("Lebo-hamath").