These are the names of the men Moses sent out to explore the land. (Moses called Hoshea son of Nun by the name Joshua.)
Parallel translations
- WEB These are the names of the men who Moses sent to spy out the land. Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.
- KJV These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua.
- BSB These were the names of the men Moses sent to spy out the land; and Moses gave to Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua.
- NKJV These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua.
- NASB These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land; but Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
These are the named spies, and Moses renames Hoshea ("salvation") as Joshua ("the LORD saves"). The new name marks Joshua's role in God's saving plan.
Overview
Summarizing the list, the text notes that Moses gave Hoshea the name Joshua, meaning "the LORD is salvation." The name change signals his calling to lead Israel into the land. Joshua bears the Hebrew form of the name Jesus, making him a striking type of Christ, who saves and brings his people into their inheritance (Heb. 4:8-9).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Num 13:8Of the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun.
- Exod 17:9Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us, and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with God’s rod in my hand.”
- Deut 32:44Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Joshua the son of Nun.
- Hos 1:1Yahweh’s word that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
- Num 14:30surely you shall not come into the land, concerning which I swore that I would make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
- Matt 1:21–23She shall give birth to a son. You shall call his name Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.”
- Num 14:6Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who spied out the land, tore their clothes.
- Heb 4:8For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken afterward of another day.
- Acts 7:45which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered into the possession of the nations, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers, to the days of David,
- Rom 9:25As he says also in Hosea, “I will call them ‘my people,’ which were not my people; and her ‘beloved,’ who was not beloved.”
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Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 13:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.