A woman helps 2 Israelite men
1Joshua sent 2 men from the town of Shittim to be spies. No one else knew that he had sent the men. He told them to go and see what the land and the city of Jericho were like.
The men went to the home of a prostitute in Jericho and they slept there. The prostitute's name was Rahab. 2Someone went to the king of Jericho and told him that people of Israel had come to see what the land was like. 3The king then sent someone to tell Rahab: ‘Bring out the men who came to your house because they have come to see what our land is like.’
4Rahab hid the men and she answered the king and said: ‘Yes, it is true that the 2 men came to me but I don't know where they are from. 5They went away when it became dark and the guards had closed the gate of the town. I don't know where they went. You must go after them immediately. You will find them.’
6Rahab took the men up to the roof of her house and she hid them under the flax that she had put there to dry. 7The men of Jericho ran on the road to the Jordan River up to where the road went over the river, and after they went out of the city, the guards closed the gate. They thought that the 2 men were on the road in front of them.
8Rahab went back up to the roof of her house. The spies were not asleep. They were awake and Rahab said to them: 9‘I know that the Lord has given this land to the Israelites. We are all afraid of you. 10They told us how the Lord had opened and dried up the water of the Red Sea so that you could walk through the sea when you came out of the land of Egypt. They also told us how you had defeated the 2 Amorite kings, Sihon and Og, east of the Jordan River. 11We then became afraid. No one here thinks that we can win a war_against you. Your God, the Lord, is God in the heaven above and down here on earth. 12You must please promise me and the Lord must be your Witness that you will be good to me and my family, as I have been good to you and have helped you. 13Your people must not kill my father or mother or my brothers or sisters or anyone in their families. You may not take anything that belongs to them. You must make sure that your people do not kill them.’
14The spies answered and said: ‘If you die, we must also die. If you do not tell anyone why we came here and if the Lord gives us this land, then we will be good to you. We will keep our promise.’
15Rahab's house was on the wall of the city. She let a rope through the window for the 2 men to go down to the ground.
16She said to the men: ‘You must go and hide in the hills. The men who are looking for you will not find you there. After 3 days you can go back on the same road on which you came.’
17The 2 spies said to Rahab: ‘We will do what we promised. 18When our people come to attack this city, you must tie this red rope to your window and your family must be here with you: your father and mother, your brothers and everyone in your family. 19If anyone in your family goes outside your house and our people kill them, then it will not be our fault. But if our people kill or hurt anyone in your house, it will be our fault. We will be guilty. 20If you tell people that we were here, we will not do what we promised.’ 21Rahab said: ‘I will do what you have said.’ Then she let them go and she tied the red rope to the window.
22The spies went to the hills and they stayed there for 3 days. The men of Jericho looked for them on the road to the Jordan River but they did not find them and they went back to the city.
23The 2 men came down from the hills and they went over the Jordan River. They went to Joshua and told him everything that had happened. 24They said: ‘We are sure that the Lord will give us this land. The people of this land are afraid of us.’
