22. Then all of you approached me, saying, "Let’s send spies ahead of us—they can check out the land for us. Then they can return with word about the route we should use and bring a report about the cities that we’ll be entering."
23. This idea seemed good to me, so I selected twelve men, one from each tribe.
24. These set out and went up into the hills, going as far as the Cluster ravine. They walked all around that area.
25. They took some of the land’s fruit and then came back down to us. They reported to us: "The land that the Lord our God is giving to us is wonderful!"
26. But you weren’t willing to go up. You rejected the Lord your God’s instruction.
27. You complained in your tents, saying things like, "The Lord hates us! That’s why he brought us out of Egypt—to hand us over to the Amorites, to destroy us!
28. What are we doing? Our brothers have made our hearts sick by saying, ‘People far stronger and much taller than we live there, and the cities are huge, with walls sky-high! Worse still, we saw the descendants of the Anakites there!’"
29. But I said to you: Don’t be terrified! Don’t be afraid of them!
30. The Lord your God is going before you. He will fight for you just as he fought for you in Egypt while you watched,