Numbers 13:23

Summary

The verse narrates the scouts' arrival at the wadi of Eshcol, where they cut a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes, carried it on a pole between two men, and also took pomegranates and figs. The sentence is built as a chain of consecutive narrative actions describing the gathering of produce from the land.

Key words

• va-yyicretu — yikh.re.Tu ("they cut down", H3772G): qal narrative verb, continuing the wayyiqtol chain that moves the story forward action by action.
• zemorah ("a branch", H2156): feminine singular noun, the direct object of the cutting, denoting a single vine-shoot.
• eshkol ("a cluster of", H0811): masculine singular noun in construct state, meaning it must be followed by what it is a cluster "of" — here grapes.
• anavim ("grapes", H6025): masculine plural noun, the item the cluster consists of, completing the construct phrase "cluster of grapes."
• va-yyisa'uhu — yi.sa.'U. + hu ("they carried it", H5375H + H9033): qal narrative verb with a 3rd person masculine singular suffix ("it"), referring back to the cluster (or the branch bearing it), carried by an unspecified plural "they."

What the text says

The Hebrew verse is a sequence of three wayyiqtol (narrative past) clauses linked by the vav-consecutive: "and they came" (va-yyavo'u, H0935G), "and they cut" (va-yyikretu), and "and they carried it" (va-yyisa'uhu). This chain structure is typical of Biblical Hebrew narrative prose, where each new verb form pushes the story forward in sequence without needing additional connectors like "then" or "next" — the vav itself carries that function.

The phrase eshkol anavim echad ("a cluster of grapes, one," H0811 + H6025 + H0259) uses a construct chain followed by the numeral echad ("one," H0259), emphasizing that a single cluster was singled out — notable given its size, since it required two men and a pole (ba-mmot bi-shnayim, "on the pole, in two/by two," H4132 + H8147) to carry it. The final two items, rimmonim ("pomegranates," H7416) and te'enim ("figs," H8384), are introduced with the partitive preposition min ("some of," H4480A) rather than a full verb, indicating these were taken in unspecified quantity alongside the grape cluster, without a separate action verb — the earlier verb "they carried" covers them too.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text of this verse describes the cutting of the grape branch at the wadi of Eshcol and the gathering of pomegranates and figs. The LXX and Vulgate texts supplied for this reference instead contain material corresponding to the arrival at Hebron and the mention of Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, sons of Anak, with the note about Hebron's construction relative to Tanis/Zoan in Egypt — content that in the Hebrew numbering belongs to the previous verse. The Spanish (RV1909, SBLIBRE) and English (BSB) translations given align with the Hebrew content of verse 23 (the Eshcol episode), not with the LXX/Vulgate text cited here.