17 Bible Verses about Spies

And Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed concerning them, and he said to them, "You are spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land!" And they said to him, "No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. We all are sons of one man. We [are] honest [men]. We, your servants, are not spies."

And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, "Send for yourself men, and let them explore the land of Canaan, which I [am about] to give to the {Israelites}; {from each tribe of his father send one man}, everyone a leader among them." So Moses sent them from the desert of Paran on the command of Yahweh; all of the men [were] {leaders} of the {Israelites}.read more.
And these [are] their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur; from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori; from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh; from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph; from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun; from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu; from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi; from the tribe of Joseph, from the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi son of Susi; from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli; from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael; from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi; from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki. These [are] the names of the men whom Moses sent to explore the land. And Moses called Hoshea son of Nun Joshua. Moses sent them to explore the land of Canaan, and he said to them, "Go up [like] this to the Negev, and go up into the hill country, and you will see what the land is [like] and if the people who inhabit it [are] strong or weak, or whether they are few or many, and whether the land that they [are] inhabiting [is] good or bad, and whether the cities they [are] inhabiting are camps or fortifications, and whether the land [is] fertile or lean, and whether there are trees on it or not. You will show yourself courageous, and you will take some of the fruit of the land." It [was] the time of first ripe grapes.

Moses sent to explore Jaazer; they captured {its environs} and dispossessed the Amorites who [were] there.

"Then all of you approached me, and [you] said, 'Let us send men {before us}, and let them explore the land for us, and let them bring back {a report} to us [concerning] the way that {we should take} [and concerning] the cities that we shall come to.'

Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two men from Acacia Grove [as] spies, saying, "Go, view the land, especially Jericho." So they went, and entered the house of a prostitute whose name [was] Rahab, and {spent the night} there. The king of Jericho was told, "Look, [some] men from the {Israelites} have come here tonight to search out the land." And the king of Jericho sent [for] Rahab, saying, "Bring out the men who came to you, the ones who have entered your house, for they have come to search out the whole land."

The city and all that is in it will be devoted to Yahweh; only Rahab the prostitute and all who [are] with her in the house will live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent.

By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, [because she] welcomed the spies in peace.

And likewise was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works [when she] welcomed the messengers and sent [them] out by a different route?

Now Joshua sent men from Jericho [to] Ai, which [is] near Beth Aven, east of Bethel, and he said to them, "Go up and spy out Ai." And the men went up and spied out Ai.

And the house of Joseph spied out Bethel (the former name of the city was Luz). And when the spies saw a man leaving the city, they said to him, "Please show us the entrance of the city, and we will deal kindly with you."

The descendants of Dan sent from the whole number of their clan five {capable men} from Zorah and Eshtaol to spy out the land and to explore it. And they said to them, "Go, explore the land." And they went to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and they spent the night there.

But the commanders of the {Ammonites} said to Hanun their master, "{In your opinion}, [is] David honoring your father because he has sent condolences to you? [Is] it not in order to search the city, to spy it out, and to overthrow it [that] David sent his servants to you?"

But the princes of the {Ammonites} said to Hanun, "{Do you think} because David sent comforters to you [that] David honors your father? Is it not for the purpose of exploring [so as] to overthrow and spy out the land that his servants have come to you?"

And they watched [him] closely [and] sent spies who pretended they were upright, in order that they could catch him in a statement, so that they could hand him over to the authority and the jurisdiction of the governor. And they asked him, saying, "Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and do not {show partiality}, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it permitted [for] us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"

Then the Pharisees went {and consulted} so that they could entrap him with a statement. And they sent their disciples to him with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and {you do not care what anyone thinks}, {because you do not regard the opinion of people}.

And they sent some of the Pharisees and the Herodians to him so that they could catch him unawares in a statement. And [when they] came, they said to him, "Teacher, we know that you are truthful and {you do not care what anyone thinks}, {because you do not regard the opinion of people} but teach the way of God in truth. Is it permitted to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay or should we not pay?"

Now [this was] because of the false brothers secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, in order that they might enslave us,