Joshua 2:1-7

Common English Bible

Joshua sends spies

2 Joshua, Nun’s son, secretly sent two men as spies from Shittim. He said, “Go. Look over the land, especially Jericho.” They set out and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab. They bedded down there.

² Someone told the king of Jericho, “Men from the Israelites have come here tonight to spy on the land.”

³ So the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab: “Send out the men who came to you, the ones who came to your house, because they have come to spy on the entire land.”

Rahab takes action

⁴ But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. Then she said, “Of course the men came to me. But I didn’t know where they were from. ⁵ The men left when it was time to close the gate at dark, but I don’t know where the men went. Hurry! Chase after them! You might catch up with them.” ⁶ But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the flax stalks that she had laid out on the roof. ⁷ The men from Jericho^[a] chased after them in the direction of the Jordan up to the fords. As soon as those chasing them went out, the gate was shut behind them.