There we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim. We were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.”
Parallel Translations
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There we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim. We were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.”
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And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
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And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come of the Nephilim; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.'
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Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Numbers 13:33 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Deuteronomy 1:28 Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our heart melt, saying, ‘The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to the sky. Moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there!’ ”
- Genesis 6:4 The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when God’s sons came in to men’s daughters and had children with them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
- Isaiah 40:22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in,
- Deuteronomy 9:2 a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard say, “Who can stand before the sons of Anak?”
- 1 Samuel 17:42 When the Philistine looked around, and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and had a good looking face.
- Deuteronomy 3:11 (For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron. Isn’t it in Rabbah of the children of Ammon? Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its width, after the cubit of a man.)
- Numbers 13:22 They went up by the South, and came to Hebron; and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
- Deuteronomy 2:10 (The Emim lived there before, a great and numerous people, and tall as the Anakim.
- 1 Samuel 17:4-7 A champion out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span went out. He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he wore a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. He had bronze shin armor on his legs, and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. The staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. His shield bearer went before him.
- 1 Chronicles 11:23 He killed an Egyptian, a man of great stature, five cubits high. In the Egyptian’s hand was a spear like a weaver’s beam; and he went down to him with a staff, plucked the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and killed him with his own spear.
- 2 Samuel 21:20-22 There was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on every hand, and six toes on every foot, twenty four in count; and he also was born to the giant. When he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, killed him. These four were born to the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain The giants were so cruel, that they spoiled and…
The giants were so cruel, that they spoiled and killed one another and those that came to them.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain i.e. Small and contemptible.
i.e. Small and contemptible.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 33. There we saw the giants] נפלים nephilim.…
Verse 33. There we saw the giants] נפלים nephilim. It is evident that they had seen a robust, sturdy, warlike race of men, and of great stature; for the asserted fact is not denied by Joshua or Caleb.
Tales of gigantic men are frequent in all countries, but they are generally of such as have lived in times very remote from those in which such tales are told. That there have been giants at different times, in various parts of the earth, there can be no doubt; but that there ever was a nation of men twelve and fourteen feet high, we cannot, should not believe. Goliath appears to have been at least nine feet high: this was very extraordinary. I knew three young men in my own neighbourhood, two of them brothers, each of whom was upwards of seven feet, the third was eight feet six inches, and these men were very well proportioned. Others I have seen of extraordinary stature, but they were generally disproportioned, especially in their limbs. These instances serve to prove the possibility of cases of this nature. The Anakim might appear to the Israelites as a very tall, robust nation; and in comparison of the latter it is very probable that they were so, as it is very likely that the growth of the Israelites had been greatly cramped with their long and severe servitude in Egypt. And this may in some measure account for their alarm. On this subject the reader is desired to turn back to the note on See Clarke on Ge 6:4.
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CANAAN was a type of the kingdom of God; the wilderness through which the Israelites passed, of the difficulties and trials to be met with in the present world. The promise of the kingdom of God is given to every believer; but how many are discouraged by the difficulties in the way! A slothful heart sees dangers, lions, and giants, every where; and therefore refuses to proceed in the heavenly path. Many of the spies contribute to this by the bad reports they bring of the heavenly country. Certain preachers allow "that the land is good, that it flows with milk and honey," and go so far as to show some of its fruits; but they discourage the people by stating the impossibility of overcoming their enemies. "Sin," say they, "cannot be destroyed in this life - it will always dwell in you - the Anakim cannot be conquered - we are but as grasshoppers against the Anakim," c., &c. Here and there a Joshua and a Caleb, trusting alone in the power of God, armed with faith in the infinite efficacy of that blood which cleanses from all unrighteousness, boldly stand forth and say: "Their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us let us go up at once and possess the land, for we are well able to overcome." We can do all things through Christ strengthening us: he will purify us unto himself, and give us that rest from sin here which his death has procured and his word has promised. Reader, canst thou not take God at his word? He has never yet failed thee. Surely then thou hast no reason to doubt. Thou hast never yet tried him to the uttermost. Thou knowest not how far and how fully he can save. Do not be dispirited: the sons of Anak shall fall before thee, if thou meet them in the name of the LORD of HOSTS.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Num 13:33. We were in our own sight as…
Num 13:33. We were in our own sight as grasshoppers — Thus their fear magnified these sons of Anak above measure, so that in comparison of them they thought themselves as weak and contemptible as insignificant insects. And so we were in their sight — An hyperbole, signifying that the Anakims looked down upon them with the utmost contempt.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Spoke ill, &c. These men, who, by their misrepresentations…
Spoke ill, &c. These men, who, by their misrepresentations of the land of promise, discouraged the Israelites from attempting the conquest of it, were a figure of worldlings, who, by decrying or misrepresenting true devotion, discourage Christians from seeking in earnest and acquiring so great a good, and thereby securing to themselves a happy eternity. (Challoner) --- Devoureth, by being exposed to continual wars from the Arabs, Idumeans, and from its own inhabitants, the monsters of the race of Enac. With this God had threatened the Hebrews, if they proved rebellious, Leviticus xxvi. 38. See Ezechiel xxxvi. 13. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak--The…
there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak--The name is derived from the son of Arba, a great man among the Arabians (Jos 15:14), who probably obtained his appellation from wearing a splendid collar or chain round his neck, as the word imports. The epithet "giant" evidently refers here to stature. (See on Gen 6:4). And it is probable the Anakims were a distinguished family, or perhaps a select body of warriors, chosen for their extraordinary size.
we were in our own sight as grasshoppers--a strong Orientalism, by which the treacherous spies gave an exaggerated report of the physical strength of the people of Canaan.
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Next: Numbers Chapter 14
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 33. The giants — Hebrew and R.V. Nephilim, like…
33. The giants — Hebrew and R.V. Nephilim, like the antediluvian tyrants who corrupted the earth. Gen_6:4, note. The application of the term Nephilim to a race of antediluvians does not prove that the giants found by the spies were the lineal descendants of these, nor does it justify the extraordinary hypothesis of the “higher criticism,” that the writer of Gen_6:4, knew nothing of a flood in which all mankind except one family were destroyed. A resemblance in stature is all that is requisite.
Sons of Anak — See Num_13:22, note.
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As grasshoppers — An Oriental exaggeration of the disparity of stature between the Hebrews and some of the Canaanites. The fears of the unbelieving spies magnified their foes. Probably the average stature of the Israelites did not fall much below that of the Canaanites.
In our own sight… in their sight — The contempt of their enemies is consequent upon their own cowardly self-depreciation. They who do not respect themselves will fail to gain the respect of others. “The man who counts himself as a grasshopper when he is set to represent a great cause is apt to be counted as a grasshopper by those who oppose him. Peculiarly is this the truth with one of God’s representatives. He who realizes that he stands for One into whose hands all power in heaven and earth is given need have no fear of giants or of the sons of giants. His sufficiency is of God; and in this sufficiency he can move forward unflinching-ly, until the giants who oppose him find themselves as grasshoppers in the path of his progress.” — H. Clay Trumbull.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 33. the Nephilim] Mentioned in Gen_6:4 in connexion with…
33. the Nephilim] Mentioned in Gen_6:4 in connexion with the ‘sons of Elohim,’ but not elsewhere in the O.T. The derivation and meaning of the name are obscure. Aq. [Note: q. The Greek translation by Aquila.] ἐπιπίπτοντες (‘falling upon’) connects it with nâphal (נפל) ‘to fall,’ as though the name described the violence with which the Nephilim fell upon their enemies. But LXX. γίγαντες (‘giants’) and Sym. βιαῖοι (‘violent’) are only paraphrases. The name appears to be a relic of primitive mythology, but little more can be said of it. If the Nephilim were thought of as superhuman or semi-divine beings, the spies may have used the name to heighten the effect of their description of the ‘sons of Anak’ (Num_13:28).
the sons of Anak, which come of the Nephilim] the sons of Anak are of the Nephilim. A separate sentence, which is absent from the LXX. , and was probably added to the Heb. text by a late scribe. He may have meant that the sons of Anak were either descended from, or of the number of, the Nephilim.
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as grasshoppers] Very small and helpless. Oriental speech abounds in similes from nature. Insignificance and weakness are also expressed by ‘flocks of kids’ (1Ki_20:27), ‘a dead dog’ and ‘a flea’ (1Sa_24:14), ‘a partridge’ (1Sa_26:20).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (33) And there we saw the giants.—The same word,…
(33) And there we saw the giants.—The same word, nephilim. is here used which is found in Gen_6:4. See Note in loc.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The giants, the sons of Anak, which come of…
The giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants, qn yniB The Nephilim, Beni-Anak, of the Nephilim. The Septuagint has only tougantav . The Nephilim are, without doubt, the primaeval tyrants mentioned under that name in Gen_6:4. The renown of these sons of violence had come down from those dim ages, and the exaggerated fears of the spies saw them revived in the gigantic forms of the Beni-Anak. There is no certainty that the Nephilim had been giants, and no likelihood whatever that the Beni-Anak had any real connection with them. As grasshoppers. We have no means of judging of the actual size of these men, unless the height assigned to Goliath (six cubits and a span) be allowed to them. Probably men of this stature were quite exceptional even among the Anakim. The report of the spies was thoroughly false in effect, although founded on isolated facts.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 13:33 giants: See study note on Gen 6:4.
13:33 giants: See study note on Gen 6:4.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.