The Book of Joshua

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- Kapitel 2 -

(Hebrews 11:30–31)

Then Joshua chose two men from their camp at Acacia. He told them, “Go find out all that you can about the land, especially about Jericho.” They left the camp, and they came to Jericho, to the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab. They stayed there.

Someone told the king of Jericho, “Look! Some Israelite men have come here tonight to look at our land!”

So the king sent a messenger to tell Rahab, “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come here to look at our land!”

Now the woman had taken the men and hidden them in her house. So she said to the king’s men, “Yes, it is true that those men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from.

They left when it was dark, about the time that the guards close the city gates. I do not know where they were going. If you hurry, you might catch up with them.”

But in reality, the woman had taken the two men up on to the flat roof of her house and hidden them under bundles of flax that were drying on her roof.

The king’s men went out of the city to search for them on the road that leads to the fords across the Jordan River. The guards shut the city gates as the king’s men went out.

The Promise to Rahab

Before the Israelite men lay down to sleep that night, Rahab went up to the roof

and said to them, “We know that Yahweh has given you this land. All our people are terrified of you, we are so afraid of you that we will not resist you at all.

We have heard about how Yahweh dried up the water of the Sea of Reeds for you to cross when you left Egypt. We heard what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites who lived on the other side of the Jordan River, and how you totally destroyed everyone and everything in their kingdom.

When we heard about those things, we were terrified. We no longer have courage to fight against you, for Yahweh is God, and he rules everything up in heaven and down here on earth.

So now I want you to solemnly promise me before Yahweh, so that he may punish you if you do not do what you say. Promise me that you will act kindly to me and my family. Give me a guarantee that you will do what you promise,

and that you will spare the lives of my father and my mother, my brothers and sisters, and all of their families, and that you will rescue my family when the Israelites destroy this city.”

The two men replied, “We will give up our lives if we do not do as we say! If you do not tell others what we are planning to do, then we will have to act kindly toward all your family, when Yahweh gives us this land.”

One of the outside walls of the house where Rahab lived was part of the wall of the city. She fastened a rope through a window that was built into the wall, so the men could climb out the window and down the wall.

Then she said to them, “When you leave the city, go up into the hills so that the men who are searching for you will not find you. Hide in caves in the hills for three days until the men who are searching for you come back. Then you can return to your camp.”

The two men gave her a red cord and said to her, “This is what you must do, if you do not do this, we will not be required to do what we have solemnly promised.

You must tie this red cord in the window by which you let us down, and you must gather together your father and your mother and your brothers, and everyone in your father’s household.

If anyone in your family goes outside this house into the street, he will be risking his life, and we will not be responsible if he is killed. But if anyone who is in this house with you is injured, we will be guilty.

Also, if you tell anyone what we are planning to do, we are not required to do what we had promised to do for you and your family.”

Rahab said, “I agree to do what you say.” So she sent them away, and they left her. And she tied the red cord so it would hang out of the window.

When the two men left the city, they went up into the hills. They stayed there for three days while the men who had been sent by the king continued to search for them. They searched all along the road, but they did not find the two men.

Then the two men started back toward their camp. They went down to the river, crossed it and returned so they could report to Joshua. They told him everything that had happened to them.

They said to Joshua, “Yahweh has indeed given this land to us. The people there will not be able to resist us because they are too afraid.”

(Hebrews 11:30–31)

Joshua the son of Nun secretly sent two men out of Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, including Jericho.” They went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and slept there.

The king of Jericho was told, “Behold,(a) men of the children of Israel came in here tonight to spy out the land.”

Jericho’s king sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered into your house; for they have come to spy out all the land.”

The woman took the two men and hid them. Then she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I didn’t know where they came from.

About the time of the shutting of the gate, when it was dark, the men went out. Where the men went, I don’t know. Pursue them quickly. You may catch up with them.”

But she had brought them up to the roof, and hidden them under the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof.

The men pursued them along the way to the fords of the Jordan River. As soon as those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate.

The Promise to Rahab

Before they had lain down, she came up to them on the roof.

She said to the men, “I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.

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 the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and to Og, whom you utterly destroyed.

As soon as we had heard it, our hearts melted, and there wasn’t any more spirit in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath.

Now therefore, please swear to me by the LORD, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a true sign;

and that you will save alive my father, my mother, my brothers, and my sisters, and all that they have, and will deliver our lives from death.”

The men said to her, “Our life for yours, if you don’t talk about this business of ours; and it shall be, when the LORD gives us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you.”

Then she let them down by a cord through the window; for her house was on the side of the wall, and she lived on the wall.

She said to them, “Go to the mountain, lest the pursuers find you. Hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers have returned. Afterward, you may go your way.”

The men said to her, “We will be guiltless of this your oath which you’ve made us to swear.

Behold, when we come into the land, tie this line of scarlet thread in the window which you used to let us down. Gather to yourself into the house your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household.

It shall be that whoever goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood will be on his head, and we will be guiltless. Whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand is on him.

But if you talk about this business of ours, then we shall be guiltless of your oath which you’ve made us to swear.”

She said, “Let it be as you have said.” She sent them away, and they departed. Then she tied the scarlet line in the window.

They went and came to the mountain, and stayed there three days, until the pursuers had returned. The pursuers sought them all along the way, but didn’t find them.

Then the two men returned, descended from the mountain, crossed the river, and came to Joshua the son of Nun. They told him all that had happened to them.

They said to Joshua, “Truly the LORD has delivered all the land into our hands. Moreover, all the inhabitants of the land melt away before us.”

Fußnoten

(a)2:2 “Behold”, from “הִנֵּה”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.