^19 (A)Then the woman took and spread a covering over the well’s mouth, and spread ground grain on it; and the thing was not known.

^4 (A)Then the woman took the two men and hid them. So she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. ⁵ And it happened as the gate was being shut, when it was dark, that the men went out. Where the men went I do not know; pursue them quickly, for you may overtake them.” ⁶ (But ^(B)she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order on the roof.) ⁷ Then the men pursued them by the road to the Jordan, to the fords. And as soon as those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate.

⁸ Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, ⁹ and said to the men: ^(C)“I know that the Lord has given you the land, that ^(D)the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land ^(E)are fainthearted because of you. ¹⁰ For we have heard how the Lord ^(F)dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and ^(G)what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you ^(H)utterly destroyed. ¹¹ And as soon as we ^(I)heard these things, ^(J)our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for ^(K)the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. ¹² Now therefore, I beg you, ^(L)swear to me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to ^(M)my father’s house, and ^(N)give me ^[a]a true token, ¹³ and ^(O)spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.”

¹⁴ So the men answered her, “Our lives for yours, if none of you tell this business of ours. And it shall be, when the Lord has given us the land, that ^(P)we will deal kindly and truly with you.”

¹⁵ Then she ^(Q)let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall; she dwelt on the wall. ¹⁶ And she said to them, “Get to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you. Hide there three days, until the pursuers have returned. Afterward you may go your way.”

¹⁷ So the men said to her: “We will be ^(R)blameless^[b] of this oath of yours which you have made us swear, ^18 (S)unless, when we come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, ^(T)and unless you ^[c]bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household to your own home. ¹⁹ So it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we will be ^[d]guiltless. And whoever is with you in the house, ^(U)his ^[e]blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him. ²⁰ And if you tell this business of ours, then we will be ^[f]free from your oath which you made us swear.”

²¹ Then she said, “According to your words, so be it.” And she sent them away, and they departed. And she bound the scarlet cord in the window.

²² They departed and went to the mountain, and stayed there three days until the pursuers returned. The pursuers sought them all along the way, but did not find them. ²³ So the two men returned, descended from the mountain, and crossed over; and they came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all that had befallen them. ²⁴ And they said to Joshua, “Truly ^(V)the Lord has delivered all the land into our hands, for indeed all the inhabitants of the country are fainthearted because of us.”

¹⁹ And ^(A)the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they ^[a]are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.”