Numbers 13:31

Summary

The verse reports the words of the men (the scouts) who had gone up with an unnamed leader into the land: they declare that they are not able to go up against the people because that people is stronger than they are. The sentence is a direct quotation introduced by a relative clause identifying the speakers.

Key words

• 'a.na.Shim ("men", H0582) — masculine plural noun, marked with the definite article ha- (H9009), identifying a specific known group, "the men."
• 'a.Lu ("they had gone up", H5927G) — qal perfect, 3rd person plural, describing a completed action prior to the speaking; this is the same verbal root used again in 'a.Lot.
• nu.Khal ("we are able", H3201) — qal imperfect, 1st person plural, expressing ongoing/future incapacity; negated by lo' ("not", H3808) to form "we are not able."
• 'a.Lot ("go up", H5927G) — qal infinitive, paired with the preposition la- ("to", H9005), forming the purpose clause "to go up," repeating the root of 'a.Lu.
• cha.Zak ("[is] strong", H2389) — masculine singular adjective, predicating strength of the pronoun hu' ("it/he", H1931), which refers back to ha-'Am ("the people", H5971A).

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with a relative clause, ha-'anashim 'asher-'alu 'immo ("the men who had gone up with him"), which identifies the subject before the main verb 'ameru ("they said", H0559) appears. This structure places the identity and prior action of the speakers (having gone up) before their statement, so the reader knows they are eyewitnesses reporting from direct experience.

The quoted speech itself is built on two occurrences of the same root, H5927 ("to go up"): first as the perfect 'alu describing their past ascent, then as the infinitive 'alot describing the proposed future ascent "against the people" ('el-ha-'am). The negation lo' nukhal ("we are not able") uses an imperfect verb, which in this construction expresses a stated incapacity rather than a single completed event. The causal clause ki-chazaq hu' mimennu ("for it/he [is] strong more-than-us") uses the adjective chazaq ("strong", H2389) without a copula, a common feature of Hebrew nominal/adjectival clauses, and the comparative sense ("stronger than") is carried entirely by the preposition min ("more than", H4480A) attached to the suffix -nu ("us").

Differences between versions

The Hebrew, the Vulgate, and the Spanish and English translations (RV1909, BSB, SBLIBRE) all render this as the scouts' negative report: they say they cannot go up because the people are stronger. The Septuagint text supplied here (LXXSWETE) diverges substantially in content: it names Caleb, has him silencing the people before Moses, and gives an opposite, affirmative statement ("going up we will go up... for we shall surely prevail against them"), rather than a report of inability. Where the Hebrew and Vulgate/other versions present a declaration of weakness attributed to the scouts, the LXX text given presents a declaration of confidence attributed to Caleb.