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Then Joshua son of
Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. "Go, look over the
land," he said, "especially Jericho." So they went
and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.
The king of Jericho was told, "Look! Some of the Israelites have
come here tonight to spy out the land."
So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: "Bring out
the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have
come to spy out the whole land."
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 had come from.
At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, the men left. I
don't know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch
up with them."
(But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks
of flax she had laid out on the roof.)
So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads
to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out,
the gate was shut.
Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof
and said to them, "I know that the LORD has given this land to
you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who
live in this country are melting in fear because of you.
We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you
when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the
two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely
destroyed.
When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone's courage failed
because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on
the earth below.
Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness
to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure
sign
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."
"Our lives for your lives!" the men assured her. "If
you don't tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully
when the LORD gives us the land."
So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she
lived in was part of the city wall.
Now she had said to them, "Go to the hills so the pursuers will
not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return,
and then go on your way."
The men said to her, "This oath you made us swear will not be
binding on us
unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in
the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought
your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your
house.
If anyone goes outside your house into the street, his blood will
be on his own head; we will not be responsible. As for anyone who
is in the house with you, his blood will be on our head if a hand
is laid on him.
But if you tell what we are doing, we will be released from the oath
you made us swear."
"Agreed," she replied. "Let it be as you say."
So she sent them away and they departed. And she tied the scarlet
cord in the window.
When they left, they went into the hills and stayed there three days,
until the pursuers had searched all along the road and returned without
finding them.
Then the two men started back. They went down out of the hills, forded
the river and came to Joshua son of Nun and told him everything that
had happened to them.
They said to Joshua, "The LORD has surely given the whole land
into our hands; all the people are melting in fear because of us."
Josua 2, 1 - 24
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The seventh
time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded
the people, "Shout! For the LORD has given you the city!
The city and all that is in it are to be devoted [1] to the
LORD . Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house
shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent.
But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring
about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will
make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on
it.
All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred
to the LORD and must go into his treasury."
When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of
the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed;
so every man charged straight in, and they took the city.
They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with the sword every
living thing in it-men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and
donkeys.
Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, "Go into
the prostitute's house and bring her out and all who belong to her,
in accordance with your oath to her."
So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab,
her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. They
brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the
camp of Israel.
Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put
the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury
of the LORD's house.
But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who
belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies
to Jericho-and she lives among the Israelites to this day.
At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: "Cursed before
the LORD is the man who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho:
"At the cost of his firstborn son
will he lay its foundations;
at the cost of his youngest
will he set up its gates."
So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the
land.
Josua 6, 16 - 27
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