Joshua 2

1Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two men from Shittim as spies. He said, “Go, look over the land and Jericho.” So they went and came to the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and they lodged there.

2The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some men from the Israelites have come here tonight to search out the land.”

3So the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you, who entered your house, because they have come to search out the whole land.”

4But 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.

5When it was time to shut the gate at dark, the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Chase after them quickly, for you will catch up with them.”

6But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax that she had laid out on the roof.

7So the men pursued them on the road to the Jordan as far as the fords, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out after them, the gate was shut.

8Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof

9and said to the men, “I know that Yahweh has given you the land, that terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are melting away before you.

10For we have heard how Yahweh 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 beyond the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction.

11When we heard it, our hearts melted, and no one had any courage left because of you, for Yahweh your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth below.

12Now then, please swear to me by Yahweh that, since I have shown you kindness, you in turn will show kindness to my father’s house. Give me a sure sign

13that you will spare my father and my mother, my brothers and my sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will save our lives from death.”

14The men said to her, “Our lives for yours, even to death! If you do not tell about this business of ours, then when Yahweh gives us the land, we will deal with you in kindness and faithfulness.”

15Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built into the city wall, and she lived in the wall itself.

16She said to them, “Go to the hills, so that the pursuers do not find you. Hide there three days until the pursuers return, and afterward go on your way.”

17The men said to her, “We will be free from this oath of yours that you have made us swear.

18Look, when we come into the land, you must tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window you let us down through, and you must gather into your house your father and your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household.

19If anyone goes out the doors of your house into the street, his blood will be on his own head, and we will be free of guilt. But if a hand is laid on anyone who is with you in the house, his blood will be on our heads.

20And if you tell about this business of ours, we will be free from the oath you have made us swear.”

21She said, “As you say, so be it.” Then she sent them away, and they left. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window.

22They went off into the hills and stayed there three days, until the pursuers returned. The pursuers searched all along the road but did not find them.

23Then the two men came back down from the hills, crossed over, and came to Joshua son of Nun. They told him everything that had happened to them.

24They said to Joshua, “Yahweh has given the whole land into our hands. All the inhabitants of the land are even melting away before us.”