Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Thanksgiving for Rescue from Death.

The Promise to Rahab

¹⁵ Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built ^[a]into the city wall, so that she was living on the wall. ¹⁶ And she said to them, “Go [west] to the hill country, so that the pursuers [who have headed east] will not encounter you; hide yourselves there for three days until the pursuers return. Then afterward you can go your way.” ¹⁷ The men said to her, “We shall be blameless and free from this oath which you have made us swear, ¹⁸ unless, when we come into the land, you tie this ^[b]cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us down, and bring into the house your father and your mother and your brothers and all your father’s household [so that they will be safe]. ¹⁹ But if anyone goes out the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head [that is, his own responsibility], and we shall be blameless and free [from our oath]; however, if a hand is laid on anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head. ²⁰ But if you tell [anyone] this business of ours, we shall be blameless and free from the oath which you made us swear.” ²¹ She said, “According to your words, so be it.” Then Rahab sent them off, and they departed; and she tied the scarlet cord in the window.

²² They left and went [on their way] to the hill country [west of Jericho], and stayed there [hidden in the caves] three days until the pursuers returned. The pursuers had searched all along the road but had not found them. ²³ Then the two men turned back and came down from the hill country and crossed over [the Jordan] and came to Joshua the son of Nun [at Shittim], and told him everything that had happened to them. ²⁴ They said to Joshua, “Certainly the Lord has given all the land into our hands; for all the inhabitants of the land have melted [in despair] because of us.”

¹⁷ So too, faith, if it does not have works [to back it up], is by itself dead [inoperative and ineffective].

¹⁸ But someone may say, “You [claim to] have faith and I have [good] works; show me your [alleged] faith without the works [if you can], and I will show you my faith by my works [that is, by what I do].” ¹⁹ You believe that ^[a]God is one; you do well [to believe that]. The demons also believe [that], and shudder and bristle [in awe-filled terror—they have seen His wrath]!^{(A) 20} But are you willing to recognize, you foolish [spiritually shallow] person, that faith without [good] works is useless? ²¹ Was our father Abraham not [shown to be] justified by works [of obedience which expressed his faith] when he offered Isaac his son on the altar [as a sacrifice to God]?^{(B) 22} You see that [his] faith was working together with his works, and as a result of the works, his faith was completed [reaching its maturity when he expressed his faith through obedience]. ²³ And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and this [faith] was credited to him [by God] as righteousness and as conformity to His will,” and he was called the friend of God.^{(C) 24} You see that a man (believer) is justified by works and not by faith alone [that is, by acts of obedience a born-again believer reveals his faith]. ²⁵ In the same way, was Rahab the prostitute not justified by works too, when she received the [Hebrew] ^[b]spies as guests and protected them, and sent them away [to escape] by a different route?^{(D) 26} For just as the [human] body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works [of obedience] is also dead.