Numbers 13:24

לַמָּקוֹם הַהוּא קָרָא נַחַל אֶשְׁכּוֹל עַל אֹדוֹת הָֽאֶשְׁכּוֹל אֲשֶׁר־כָּרְתוּ מִשָּׁם בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

לַמָּק֣וֹם הַה֔וּא קָרָ֖א נַ֣חַל אֶשְׁכּ֑וֹל עַ֚ל אֹד֣וֹת הָֽאֶשְׁכּ֔וֹל אֲשֶׁר־כָּרְת֥וּ מִשָּׁ֖ם בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃

Greek (Septuagint)

καὶ ἦλθον ἕως Φάραγγος βότρυος, καὶ κατεσκέψαντο αὐτήν· καὶ ἔκοψαν ἐκεῖθεν κλήματα καὶ βότρυν σταφυλῆς ἕνα ἐπ’ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἦραν αὐτὸν ἐπ’ ἀναφορεῦσιν, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ῥοῶν καὶ ἀπότων σικύων.

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

Pergentesque usque ad Torrentem botri, absciderunt palmitem cum uva sua, quem portaverunt in vecte duo viri. De malis quoque granatis et de ficis loci illius tulerunt:

Spanish

Aquel lugar fue llamado valle de Escol, por el racimo que los hijos de Israel cortaron de allí.

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Y llamóse aquel lugar Nahal-escol, por el racimo que cortaron de allí los hijos de Israel.

(Num.13.25)

English

Because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut there, that place was called the Valley of Eshcol. The Reports of the Spies

✦ What the text says

Summary

This verse records the naming of a location: "that place" was called Nachal 'Eshkol ("Wadi of Eshcol", H5158/H0812), on account of the cluster of grapes that the Israelites cut there. The verse functions as an etiological note explaining the origin of a place name.

Key words

ma.Kom ("place", H4725) — combined with the article ha ("the") and demonstrative Hu' ("that", H1931), forming "that place," the subject of the naming.
ka.Ra' ("someone called", H7121H) — qal perfect, third person; used impersonally/indefinitely ("[one] called," i.e., "it was called"), a common Hebrew construction for naming events without a stated subject.
'esh.Kol ("Eshcol", H0812H / H0811) — appears twice: first as part of the proper name Nachal 'Eshkol ("Wadi of Eshcol"), then as the common noun ha'Eshkol ("the cluster," H0811), the grape cluster that motivated the name.
'o.Dot ("causes of", H0182) — feminine plural construct, forming the phrase 'al 'odot ("on account of, because of"), introducing the reason for the naming.
ka.re.Tu ("they cut down", H3772G) — qal perfect, third person plural, describing the completed action of the bene Yisra'el ("sons of Israel", H1121G/H3478) cutting the cluster.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built around the impersonal verb kaRa' ("someone called"), which places the grammatical object Nachal 'Eshkol immediately after it, and only later specifies the subject "that place" (la.Makom ha.Hu') at the very front of the clause as a fronted topic. This word order emphasizes the location before explaining what it was called. The reason for the name is introduced by the construct phrase 'al 'odot ("on account of"), followed by a relative clause ('asher karetu mi.sham) describing what the sons of Israel did there — cutting (karetu) the cluster (ha'Eshkol). The repetition of the root 'eshkol (as part of the proper name and then as the common noun "cluster") creates a wordplay in Hebrew that ties the place name directly to the object that caused it, a connection that is visible only in the Hebrew text.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text contains an explicit naming formula ("that place was called Wadi Eshcol"), introduced by kaRa'. The LXX and Vulgate texts provided do not preserve this naming clause as a separate statement; instead, they describe the group traveling to and reaching "Φάραγγος βότρυος" / "Torrentem botri" ("Valley/Torrent of the cluster") and cutting a branch with its grape cluster, without a distinct "it was called" statement. Additionally, where the Hebrew keeps 'Eshkol as a proper name in Nachal 'Eshkol, the LXX and Vulgate render it as a descriptive phrase ("valley of the cluster" / "torrent of the cluster") rather than transliterating it as a place name.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.