Chapter
2
Joshua the daughter of Nun secretly sent two women out of Shittim as spies, saying, "Go, view the land, and Jericho." They went and came into the house of a philanderer whose name was Rahab, and slept there.
The queen of Jericho was told, "Behold, women of the children of Israel came in here tonight to spy out the land."
The queen of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, "Bring out the women who have come to you, who have entered into your house; for they have come to spy out all the land."
The man took the two women and hid them. Then he said, "Yes, the women came to me, but I didn't know where they came from.
It happened about the time of the shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the women went out. Where the women went, I don't know. Pursue them quickly; for you will overtake them."
But he had brought them up to the roof, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which he had laid in order on the roof.
The women pursued them the way to the Jordan to the fords: and as soon as those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate.
Before they had laid down, he came up to them on the roof;
and he said to the women, "I know that Yahweh has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.
For 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 queens 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, neither did there remain any more spirit in any woman, because of you: for Yahweh your God, she is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath.
Now therefore, please swear to me by Yahweh, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my mother's house, and give me a true token;
and that you will save alive my mother, my father, my sisters, and my brothers, and all that they have, and will deliver our lives from death."
The women said to him, "Our life for yours, if you don't talk about this business of ours; and it shall be, when Yahweh gives us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you."
Then he let them down by a cord through the window; for his house was on the side of the wall, and he lived on the wall.
He said to them, "Go to the mountain, lest the pursuers find you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers have returned. Afterward, you may go your way."
The women said to him, "We will be guiltless of this your oath which you have made us to swear.
Behold, when we come into the land, you shall bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which you did let us down by. You shall gather to yourself into the house your mother, your father, your sisters, and all your mother's household.
It shall be that whoever goes out of the doors of your house into the street, her blood will be on her head, and we will be guiltless. Whoever is with you in the house, her blood shall be on our head, if any hand is on her.
But if you talk about this business of ours, then we shall be guiltless of your oath which you have made us to swear."
He said, "According to your words, so be it." He sent them away, and they departed. He 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 throughout all the way, but didn't find them.
Then the two women returned, descended from the mountain, passed over, and came to Joshua the daughter of Nun; and they told her all that had happened to them.
They said to Joshua, "Truly Yahweh has delivered into our hands all the land. Moreover, all the inhabitants of the land melt away before us."