Spies of Canaan; timid report vs Caleb and Joshua
men, and let them reconnoiter the Canaanites’ land, which I give the sons of Israel as a holding; one man according to tribe, according to peoples of their fatherhoods you will send them, every leader from them. And Moses sent them out from the Paran wilderness through the Lord’s voice, all men leaders of sons of Israel.’ And the ones sent out having been numbered according to tribes and races, he brings on again: ‘And going up they reconnoitered the land from the Sin wilderness, until Rehob, of those going into Hamath.’ And after other things: ‘And they came until a ravine of Cluster, and reconnoitered it, and cut from there a branch, and one cluster of grape upon it, and they lifted it upon carrying-poles, and from the pomegranates, and from the figs; and they named that place Cluster-ravine, because of the cluster which the sons of Israel cut from there, and they turned back from there having reconnoitered the land, after forty days; and going they came toward Moses and Aaron, and toward every synagogue of the sons of Israel into the Paran wilderness Kadesh. And they answered them a word, and to every synagogue, and showed the fruit of the land, and narrated to him, and said: We came into the land into which you sent us, a land flowing milk and honey, and this is its fruit. But that the nation dwelling upon it is bold, and cities fortified walled and very great, and we have seen Enak’s race there.’ Do you understand how the easily terrified and most undaring of those who reconnoitered the land of the promise have confessed evidently that the land is both well-vined and fat, and weighed down with beautiful fruits, yet weave beside these the things unto cowardice, naming the dwelling nation bold, and saying cities fortified and walled up and down, and standing Israel out of the hope unto mastering, and frightening them down unto unmanliness?
Palladius: Thus it holds.
Cyril: But the wise and young-hearted, Caleb and Joshua, were standing against those ones’ sophistries, saying toward both the people and sacred Moses: ‘Not so; but going up we will go up and will inherit it, because we will be able toward them.’ And those sent out together were not ending at all, confirming that the land of the promise would be hard to take for those from Israel. Then he says: ‘And every synagogue taking up gave a voice, and the people was weeping that whole night, and all the sons of Israel were murmuring upon Moses and Aaron; and every synagogue said toward them: Would that we had died in Egypt’s land, or in this wilderness, if we had died; and why does the Lord lead us into this land to fall in the war? Our women and the children will be unto plunder. Now therefore it is better for us to turn back into Egypt. And they said the one to the other: Let us give a leader, and let us turn back
Greek
ἄνδρας, καὶ κατασκεψάσθωσαν τὴν γῆν τῶν Χαναναίων, ἣν ἐγὼ δίδωμι τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραὴλ κατάσχεσιν, ἄνδρα ἔνα κατὰ φυλὴν, κατὰ δήμους πατριῶν αὐτῶν ἀποστελεῖς αὐτοὺς, πάντα ἀρχηγὸν ἐξ αὐτῶν. Καὶ ἐξαπέστειλεν αὐτοὺς Μωσῆς ἐκ τῆς ἐρήμου Φαρὰν διὰ φωνῆς Κυρίου, πάντες ἄνδρες ἀρχηγοὶ υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ.» Ἀπηριθμημένων δὲ κατὰ φυλάς τε καὶ γένη τῶν ἐξαπεσταλμένων, ἐπιφέρει πάλιν· «Καὶ ἀναβάντες κατεσκέψαντο τὴν γῆν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐρήμου Σὶν, ἕως Ῥοὼβ, εἰσπορευομένων Ἐμάθ.» Καὶ μεθ'ἕτερα· «Καὶ ἦλθον ἕως φάραγγος Βότρυος, καὶ κατεσκέψαντο αὐτὴν, καὶ ἔκοψαν ἐκεῖθεν κλῆμα, καὶ βότρυν σταφυλῆς ἕνα ἐπ' αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἦραν αὐτὸ ἐπ' ἀναφορεῦσι, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ῥοιῶν, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν σύκων· καὶ τὸν τόπον ἐκεῖνον ἐπωνόμασαν, φάραγξ Βότρυος, διὰ τὸν βότρυν, ὃν ἔκοψαν ἐκεῖθεν οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἀπέστρεψαν ἐκεῖθεν κατασκεψάμενοι τὴν γῆν, μετὰ τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέρας· καὶ πορευθέντες ἦλθον πρὸς Μωσῆν καὶ Ἀαρὼν, καὶ πρὸς πᾶσαν συναγωγὴν τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ εἰς τὴν ἔρημον Φαρὰν Κάδης. Καὶ ἀπεκρίθησαν αὐτοῖς ῥῆμα, καὶ πάσῃ συναγωγῇ, καὶ ἔδειξαν τὸν καρπὸν τῆς γῆς, καὶ διηγήσαντο αὐτῷ, καὶ εἶπον· Ἤλθομεν εἰς τὴν γῆν εἰς ἢν ἀπέστειλας ἡμᾶς, γῆν ῥέουσαν γάλα καὶ μέλι, καὶ οὗτος ὁ καρπὸς αὐτῆς. Ἀλλ' ἢ ὅτι θρασὺ τὸ ἔθνος τὸ κατοικοῦν ἐπ' αὐτῆς, καὶ πόλεις ὀχυραὶ τετειχισμέναι καὶ μεγάλαι σφόδρα, καὶ τὴν γενεὰν Ἐνὰκ ἑωράκαμεν ἐκεῖ.» Συνίης ὅπως οἱ εὐπτόητοί τε καὶ ἀτολμότατοι τῶν κατεσκεμμένων τὴν γῆν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας ὡμολογήκασιν ἐναργῶς, ὡς εὐάμπελός τε καὶ πίων ἡ γῆ, καὶ καρποῖς ὡραίοις διαβριθὴς, παραπλέκουσι δὲ τούτοις τὰ εἰς δειλίαν, θρασὺ μὲν τὸ ἔθνος τὸ κατοικοῦν ὀνομάζοντες, πόλεις τε ὀχυρὰς καὶ τετειχισμένας ἄνω καὶ κάτω λέγοντες, καὶ τῆς ἐπὶ τὸ κρατήσειν ἐλπίδος ἐξιστῶντες τὸν Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ καταφοβοῦντες εἰς ἀνανδρίαν;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ὧδε ἔχει.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἀλλ' οἴγε σοφοὶ καὶ νεανικοὶ, Χαλέβ τε καὶ Ἰησοῦς, ταῖς ἐκείνων τερθρείαις ἀνθειστήκεισαν, λέγοντες πρός τε τὸν λαὸν καὶ τὸν Μωσέα τὸν ἱερόν· «Οὐχί· ἀλλὰ ἀναβάντες ἀναβησόμεθα καὶ κατακληρονομήσομεν αὐτὴν, ὅτι δυνησόμεθα πρὸς αὐτούς.» Κατέληγον δὲ οὐδαμῶς οἱ συναπεσταλμένοι, δυσάλωτον ἔσεσθαι διαβεβαιούμενοι τοῖς ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ τῆς ἐπαγγελίας τὴν γῆν. Εἶτά φησιν· «Καὶ ἀναλαβοῦσα πᾶσα ἡ συναγωγὴ, δέδωκε φωνὴν, καὶ ἔκλαιεν ὁ λαὸς ὅλην τὴν νύκτα ἐκείνην, καὶ διεγόγγυζον ἐπὶ Μωσῆν καὶ Ἀαρὼν πάντες οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραήλ· καὶ εἶπε πρὸς αὐτοὺς πᾶσα ἡ συναγωγή· Ὄφελον ἀπεθάνομεν ἐν γῇ Αἰγύπτου, ἢ ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ ταύτῃ, εἰ ἀπεθάνομεν· καὶ ἵνα τί Κύριος εἰσάγει ἡμᾶς εἰς τὴν γῆν ταύτην πεσεῖν ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ; Αἱ γυναῖκες ἡμῶν καὶ τὰ παιδία ἔσονται εἰς διαρπαγήν. Νῦν οὖν βέλτιον ἡμῖν ἐστιν ἀποστραφῆναι εἰς Αἴγυπτον. Καὶ εἶπον ὁ ἕτερος τῷ ἑτέρῳ· Δῶμεν ἀρχηγὸν, καὶ ἀποστρέψωμεν
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 5 of a seventeen-book dialogue — not the whole work.
English follows Migne PG 68 (Aubert reprint). The PDF and a cleaned text of the same print were checked against each other. This page is Book 5 of seventeen. This is a reading translation for study, not a new critical edition of the Greek.
Witnesses
- Copy-text Migne PG 68 De adoratione Book 5 (Aubert reprint) (Greek · Book 5)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 5)
English is newly prepared for study from the stated edition. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.