We recommend starting a new paragraph here since verses 22-24 are a more detailed description of the journey in the southern part of Canaan, while verse 21 is a short summary of the journey throughout the land, from south to north.
They went up into the Negeb: See verse 17.
And came to Hebron: Hebron was about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Jerusalem. It was the first major, probably fortified town of Canaan that the spies came to on their journey. It was located at a relatively high elevation and hence also a very strategic point in the southern mountainous region. It was near Hebron that God first promised to Abraham that he would give his descendants the land of Canaan (see Gen 13.14-18). The patriarchs and their wives were also buried there at the cave of Machpelah (Gen 49.30-31; 50.13).
And Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there: The names Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai probably do not refer to individuals but to clans, so Good News Translation begins this clause with “where the clans of Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai….” They were the descendants of Anak. The Anakites were the legendary original inhabitants of Canaan, famous for their height (see verses 32-33, for an illustration). In cultures that do not have or know about such bunches of grapes, a branch with a single cluster of grapes may be rendered “a branch full of fruit called ‘grapes’ ” (see also Gen 40.10). A glossary entry will also be needed for grapes due to the great importance of this fruit and its products in the Bible.
And they carried it on a pole between two of them shows how rich and fertile the land was. It took two of the spies to carry the single bunch of grapes on a pole.
They brought also some pomegranates and figs is literally “and some of the pomegranates and some of the figs.” Revised Standard Version adds they brought for naturalness in English. Pomegranates are the fruit of a small tree of the same name. The fruit is a bit smaller than an orange and has a hard red skin, which must be cut open to get at the tightly-packed pockets of seeds inside, each seed enclosed in a little bag of juicy pulp. The end of the fruit has a distinctive flower-like shape. In cultures where pomegranates are unknown, translators may borrow the term from a major language or use a locally known fruit with many seeds and similar in size, shape, and color to the pomegranate. Figs are also the fruit of a tree of the same name. Fig trees are native to western Asia. The trees bear fruit twice a year. The fruit is eaten fresh or it is dried and can be preserved for a long time. Fig trees were very important in Israel especially for their fruit. The fruit was eaten as a staple food and it was also used as medicine. If the fig tree and its fruit are not known, translators will need to borrow a word, or use a descriptive phrase.
Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .