^2 (A)“Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.”

²² “And every one of you came near to me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, and let them search out the land for us, and bring back word to us of the way by which we should go up, and of the cities into which we shall come.’

²³ “The plan pleased me well; so ^(A)I took twelve of your men, one man from each tribe. ^24 (B)And they departed and went up into the mountains, and came to the Valley of Eshcol, and spied it out. ²⁵ They also took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us; and they brought back word to us, saying, ‘It is a ^(C)good land which the Lord our God is giving us.’

⁸ Thus your fathers did ^(A)when I sent them away from Kadesh Barnea ^(B)to see the land.

¹⁸ And you shall take one ^(A)leader of every tribe to divide the land for the inheritance.

Rahab Hides the Spies^(A)

2 Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men ^(B)from ^[a]Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.”

So they went, and ^(C)came to the house of a harlot named ^(D)Rahab, and ^[b]lodged there. ² And ^(E)it was told the king of Jericho, saying, “Behold, men have come here tonight from the children of Israel to search out the country.”

³ So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the country.”

^4 (F)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 ^(G)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: ^(H)“I know that the Lord has given you the land, that ^(I)the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land ^(J)are fainthearted because of you. ¹⁰ For we have heard how the Lord ^(K)dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and ^(L)what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you ^(M)utterly destroyed. ¹¹ And as soon as we ^(N)heard these things, ^(O)our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for ^(P)the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. ¹² Now therefore, I beg you, ^(Q)swear to me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to ^(R)my father’s house, and ^(S)give me ^[c]a true token, ¹³ and ^(T)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 ^(U)we will deal kindly and truly with you.”

¹⁵ Then she ^(V)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 ^(W)blameless^[d] of this oath of yours which you have made us swear, ^18 (X)unless, when we come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, ^(Y)and unless you ^[e]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 ^[f]guiltless. And whoever is with you in the house, ^(Z)his ^[g]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 ^[h]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 ^(AA)the Lord has delivered all the land into our hands, for indeed all the inhabitants of the country are fainthearted because of us.”

¹⁵ So I took ^(A)the heads of your tribes, wise and knowledgeable men, and ^[a]made them heads over you, leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, leaders of tens, and officers for your tribes.

The Seventy Elders

¹⁶ So the Lord said to Moses: “Gather to Me ^(A)seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and ^(B)officers over them; bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you.

⁴ And with you there shall be a man from every tribe, each one the head of his father’s house.

²⁵ And ^(A)Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people: rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.