Joshua 2:1-24
2 And Joshuaʽ the son of Nun sent from the Acacias two men as scouts quietly, with the commission “Go see the country, and Jericho.” And they went, and came into the house of a prostitute name Rahab, and went to bed.
2 And the king of Jericho was told “Men from the sons of Israel ha come here tonight to examine the country”;
3 and the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab “Hand out the men that went in to you, that have come to you, that have come to your house, because it was to examine all the country that they came.”
4 And the woman took the two men and secreted them, and said “The men did come in to me, but I did not know where they were from;
5 and when the gate was going to be shut at dark the men went out. I do not know where the men went; follow them up quick, you will overtake them.”
6 But she had taken them up on the roof and buried them in the flax-stalks she had laid out on the roof;
7 and the men pursued them on the Jordan road to the fords, and they shut the gate when the men pursuing them had gone out.
8 And they had not yet gone to bed when she came up on the roof to them
9 * and said to the men “I know that Jehovah has given the country to you, and that the terror of you has fallen on us
10 because we have heard how Jehovah dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and ʽOg, whom you cut down without quarter
11 and we heard of it and of hearts melted down, and no spirit stood up again in anybody because of you, because your god Jehovah is a god in the sky above and on the earth below.
12 * Now swear to me by Jehovah, because I have befriended you, and befriend me and my family and give me a pledge of loyalty,
13 and keep my father and mother and brothers and sisters alive, and all that belongs to them, and rescue our persons from death.”
14 And the men said to her “Our persons instead of yours for death if you do not tell this affair of ours; and when Jehovah gives us the country we will befriend you loyally.”
15 And she let them down by a cord through the window, because her house was built into the wall and she lived against the wall,
16 and said to them “Go to the highland, for fear you should meet with the pursuers, and hide there three days till the pursuers get back, and afterward you may go your own way.”
17 And the men said to her “We are clear of this oath of ours that you had us swear.
18 * Here, when we are coming into the country you shall tie this skein of scarlet thread in the window you let us down by, and get in your father and mother and brothers and all your family into the house with you;
19 and anyone who goes outside the doors of your house, his blood shall be on his own head and we shall be clear; but anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our heads if hands are laid on him.
20 But if you tell this affair of ours we are to be clear of your oath that you had us swear.”
21 * And she said “That is right, as you say,” and sent them off, and they went; and she tied the skein of scarlet in the window.
22 And they went off into the highland and stayed there three days till the pursuers had got back; and the pursuers looked all along the road and did not find anybody.
23 And the two men came down again out of the highland and across to Joshuaʽ the son of Nun, and told him the story of everything that had happened to them;
24 * and they said to Joshuaʽ “Jehovah has given all the country into our hands, all the inhabitants of the country are in collapse before us.”
Footnotes
^ 2:9 Var. on us and all the inhabitants of the country have collapsed before you because
^ 2:12 Lit. a token of loyalty
^ 2:18 (skein) Unc.
^ 2:21 (skein) Unc.
^ 2:24 Lit. of the country on their part are
