And they told him introduces the report of the spies, which is given in verses 27-29. The pronoun him refers to Moses, which Good News Translation makes explicit. Although Aaron and the other Israelites are present, as verse 26 makes clear, the spies address the words of their report to Moses as leader (so Alter, page 747).

We came to the land to which you sent us: The spies report that they explored the land of Canaan, as Moses requested. The Hebrew pronoun for you is singular, referring to Moses.

It flows with milk and honey: This figurative expression occurs frequently in the Pentateuch to describe the land of Canaan as “rich and fertile” (Good News Translation), abundant in fruits and crops (see, for example, Exo 3.8; Lev 20.24; Deut 6.3). New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh translates this clause more accurately by including the Hebrew focus particle gam in its rendering, saying “it does indeed flow with milk and honey.” Other translations that include it are De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling with “Really, it flows with milk and honey,” and Alter with “and it’s actually flowing with milk and honey.” Moses repeatedly used this idiom (see, for example, Exo 13.5). Now the eyewitnesses confirm that it is actually (gam) true. We advise translators to keep this idiom as New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling and Alter have done, or at least to render this clause with a natural idiom of the target language; for example, Chewa says “it is a land of what could a child cry for.”

And this is its fruit: At this point the spies visibly show the fruit they took from Canaan to the gathered assembly. Good News Translation makes this clear by saying “and here is some of its fruit.”

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 .