Rahab and the Spies

2 Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies^(A) from Shittim.^(B) “Go, look over^(C) the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.^(D)” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab^(E) and stayed there.

³ So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab:^(A) “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.”

¹⁷ The city and all that is in it are to be devoted^[a](A) to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute^(B) and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid^(C) the spies we sent. ¹⁸ But keep away from the devoted things,^(D) 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^(E) and bring trouble^(F) on it. ¹⁹ All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron^(G) are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.”

²⁰ When the trumpets sounded,^(H) the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout,^(I) the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city.^{(J) 21} They devoted^(K) the city to the Lord and destroyed^(L) with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.

²² Joshua said to the two men^(M) who had spied out^(N) 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.^(O)” ²³ So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother, her brothers and sisters and all who belonged to her.^(P) They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.

²⁴ Then they burned the whole city^(Q) and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron^(R) into the treasury of the Lord’s house.^{(S) 25} But Joshua spared^(T) Rahab the prostitute,^(U) with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho^(V)—and she lives among the Israelites to this day.

³¹ By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.^[a](A)

²⁵ In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?^(A)