Passage

Numbers 13.16

Book: Numbers · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

14. Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi. 15. Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.

16. These are the names of the men that Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.

And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way by the South, and go up into the hill-country: 18. and see the land, what it is; and the people that dwell therein, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are few or many; (Numbers 13:14-18, ASV)

WEB

14. Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi. 15. Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.

16. These are the names of the men who Moses sent to spy out the land. Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.

Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, “Go up this way by the South, and go up into the hill country. 18. See the land, what it is; and the people who dwell therein, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are few or many; (Numbers 13:14-18, WEB)

KJV

14. Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi. 15. Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.

16. These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua.

And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain: 18. And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; (Numbers 13:14-18, KJV)

YLT

14. For the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vopshi. 15. For the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Machi.

16. These [are] the names of the men whom Moses hath sent to spy the land; and Moses calleth Hoshea son of Nun, Jehoshua.

And Moses sendeth them to spy the land of Canaan, and saith unto them, 'Go ye up this [way] into the south, and ye have gone up the mountain, 18. and have seen the land what it [is], and the people which is dwelling on it, whether it [is] strong or feeble; whether it [is] few or many; (Numbers 13:14-18, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: The narrator, closing the list of the twelve spies (Numbers 13:4-16).
Audience: Readers of the account.
Location: The wilderness of Paran, from which the spies are sent (Numbers 13:3).
Time period: The second year after the Exodus, after the camp moved from Hazeroth into Paran (Numbers 12:16), at the season of first-ripe grapes (Numbers 13:20); traditionally dated to the 15th or 13th century BC, depending on the Exodus chronology.

Theological reading

The new name adds the divine name. "And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua" (Numbers 13:16, ASV). Hoshea means salvation; Joshua, Yehoshua (H3091 - Yehoshua), joins it to the divine name: Yahweh saves. The leader who will bring Israel into the land carries a name that credits the victory to God.

The name passes into the New Testament. In Greek the name is Iēsous, the same form as the name of Jesus, which is why the KJV renders Joshua as "Jesus" in Hebrews 4:8. Joshua is already called by this name in Exodus 17:9, so readers differ on whether Numbers 13:16 records the moment of renaming or notes a renaming that had already taken place.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

H3091 - Yehoshua, Yehoshua, Strong's H3091
H8034 - shem, shem, Strong's H8034
H1121 - ben, ben, Strong's H1121

Quoted in

Lexicon:

H3091 - Yehoshua

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.