And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.
Parallel translations
- WEB They returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days.
- BSB After forty days the men returned from spying out the land,
- NKJV And they returned from spying out the land after forty days.
- NASB When they returned from spying out the land, at the end of forty days,
- NLT After exploring the land for forty days, the men returned
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
The spies returned after a forty-day mission. The number forty recurs as a period of testing and later defines the years of wilderness wandering.
Overview
Forty days of reconnaissance preceded Israel's decisive moment of testing. This span echoes other biblical seasons of trial and would be matched, day for year, in the judgment of forty years' wandering (14:34). The completed mission set the stage for either faith-filled obedience or rebellion.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Exod 34:28And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
- Num 14:33–34And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.
- Exod 24:18And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 13:25 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.