And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.

And they related and said: We came into the land to which thou sentest us, which in very deed floweth with milk and honey as may be known by these fruits:

And they told him, and said, We came to the land to which thou didst send us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.

And they recount to him, and say, 'We came in unto the land whither thou hast sent us, and also it is flowing with milk and honey, and this is its fruit;

And they told him, and said, We came to the land where you sent us, and surely it flows with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.

And they said, We came to the land where you sent us, and truly it is flowing with milk and honey: and here is some of the produce of it.

And they explained, saying: "We went into the land, to which you sent us, which, it is true, flows with milk and honey, as one can know by these fruits.

Narraverunt ergo ei: et dixerunt, Pervenimus ad terram ad quam misisti nos; et certe affluit lacte et melle: et ipse est fructus ejus.

We came unto the land, etc. - It is astonishing that men so dastardly as these should have had courage enough to risk their persons in searching the land. But probably though destitute of valor they had a sufficiency of cunning, and this carried them through. The report they brought was exceedingly discouraging, and naturally tended to produce the effect mentioned in the next chapter. The conduct of Joshua and Caleb was alone magnanimous, and worthy of the cause in which they were embarked.

And they told (i) him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this [is] the fruit of it.
(i) That is, Moses.

And they told him,.... Moses, who was the chief ruler whom they addressed, and to whom they directed their speech:
and said, we came unto the land whither thou sentest us; the land of Canaan, which they were sent by Moses to spy; this was said by ten of them or by one of them as their mouth; for Caleb and Joshua did not join with them in the following account, as appears from Numbers 13:30,
and surely it floweth with milk and honey; they own that the land answered to the description which the Lord had given of it when it was promised them by him, Exodus 3:8,
and this is the fruit of it; pointing to the bunch of grapes, the pomegranates and figs; not that these were a proof of its flowing with milk and honey, at least in a literal sense, but of the goodness and fruitfulness of the land: though the luxury of Bacchus, the god of wine, is by the poet (m) described, not only by a fountain of wine, but by rivers of milk and flows of honey.
(m) "Vinique fontem", &c. Horat. Carmin. l. 2. Ode 19.

they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey--The report was given publicly in the audience of the people, and it was artfully arranged to begin their narrative with commendations of the natural fertility of the country in order that their subsequent slanders might the more readily receive credit.

They told him - In the audience of the people.