to spy
tur chiefly denotes scouting out a land or place, and can also describe searching for wisdom or pursuing a sought object.
The predominant use concerns scouting or examining a land or city, especially the land of Canaan. Other occurrences show searching for wisdom, seeking out a place, land, or person, and pursuing what the heart and eyes seek.
Senses in use
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Scout out a land or city · dominant
In Numbers 13:2, the Qal imperfect plural occurs in the command to send men so that they may examine the land of Canaan; in Numbers 13:21 the sequential imperfect describes their going up through the land. The Qal participle in Numbers 14:6 identifies Joshua and Caleb as those who had examined the land, while Judges 1:23 uses a Hiphil sequential imperfect when the house of Joseph examines Bethel.
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Search out wisdom or the sum of things · occasional
In Ecclesiastes 1:13, the Qal infinitive construct stands with seeking and concerns wisdom about all that has been done under heaven. Ecclesiastes 2:3 uses a Qal perfect in the speaker's resolution concerning wine, wisdom, and folly, and Ecclesiastes 7:25 again places the infinitive with knowing and seeking wisdom and the sum of things.
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Seek out or pursue a desired object · common
Deuteronomy 1:33 and Numbers 10:33 use Qal infinitives for going ahead to find a place for the people to camp or rest. In Ezekiel 20:6, the Qal perfect describes a land searched out for them; Proverbs 12:26 uses a Hiphil imperfect where the APB renders that the righteous “seeks out his neighbor.” Numbers 15:39 applies the Qal imperfect to going after one's heart and eyes.
In the Anselm Project Bible: Across the reconnaissance passages, the APB commonly uses “spy out” and “explored.” Elsewhere it uses phrases such as “search out,” “seek out,” and “go about after”; These render the clauses rather than supplying fixed equivalents for the term.