Num 13:32 So they gave out to the sons of Israel a
bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of
great size.
dibbah dibbah .. see
Gen 37:2
bad is a poor choice of words by the translator .
unfavorable would have been better ..
negative testimony (dibbah dibbah) does not equate to a lie .. it means they just gave the bad side only ..
God was mad because He was going to give them the land, and they showed a lack of trust God would ..
their "unfavorable report" would equate to Jesus telling Peter to cast out a demon, and Peter returning and saying "the man can rip people apart and eat them for breakfast, it is better we leave him alone" ..
BTW: I once again agree with you, they feared because of lack of trust in God ..
also note they were not unbelievers as was claimed
Num 13:3