Joshua 2

2 ¹ Joshua son of Nun secretly sent out two men from Shittim as spies, telling them, "Go, look over the land, especially Jericho." So they went and came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab, and they stayed there.

² The king of Jericho was told, "Look, men have come here tonight from the Israelites to scout out the land."

³ So the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab: "Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, for they have come to scout out the whole land."

⁴ But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, "Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. ⁵ At dark, when it was time to shut the gate, the men left. I do not know where they went. Go after them quickly, for you can still overtake them." ⁶ But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out there. ⁷ So the men pursued them along the road to the river crossings of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.

A Vow of Rescue for Rahab

⁸ Before the spies lay down for the night, Rahab came up to them on the roof ⁹ and said to them, "I know that the LORD has given you this land, that dread of you has fallen on us, and that all who live in the land are melting away in fear before you. ¹⁰ For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites beyond the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. ¹¹ When we heard it, our hearts melted, and no courage was left in anyone because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. ¹² Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that, since I have shown kindness to you, you will also show kindness to my father's household. Give me a sure sign ¹³ that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will save us from death."

¹⁴ "Our lives for yours!" the men said to her. "If you do not report what we are doing, then when our Father gives us the land, we will treat you with kindness and faithfulness."

¹⁵ So she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was part of the city wall, and she lived within the wall itself. ¹⁶ She told them, "Go into the hills, or the pursuers will find you. Hide there three days until they return, and then go on your way."

¹⁷ The men said to her, "We will be free from this oath you have made us swear, ¹⁸ unless, when we enter the land, you tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and bring your father and mother, your brothers, and all your father's household together into your house. ¹⁹ If anyone goes out the doors of your house into the street, their blood will be on their own head, and we will be free of it. But if a hand is laid on anyone who is with you in the house, their blood will be on our head. ²⁰ And if you report what we are doing, we will be free from the oath you made us swear."

²¹ "Let it be as you say," she replied. So she sent them off, and they went, and she tied the scarlet cord in the window.

²² They left and went into the hills and stayed there three days, until the pursuers returned. The pursuers had searched all along the road but found nothing. ²³ Then the two men started back. They came down from the hills, crossed over, and came to Joshua son of Nun, and they told him everything that had happened to them. ²⁴ They said to Joshua, "Our Father has surely given the whole land into our hands; indeed, all who live in the land are melting away in fear before us."